I also know plenty of failures who are addicted to gambling and drugs.
Gambling, like all drugs, is a mental health / attitude problem.
Life is shit for most people and they think winning big is the only way they'll escape that - and if I lose some money, oh hey, I was poor before, I'm still poor.
We need to put the blame on education and society raising mindless zombies good only to be employees for 40 years and pay off their mortgage (in the best case scenario).