before he ask his family to help him, at least he have strong will to quit from gambling, without strong will, i guess he just come back to play gambling. i know every people can do if we have strong will to do something.
Do you think strong willed individual would be addicted to gambling in the first place?
It works like that: addict knows that he are addicted but he doesn't want to stop, because it is his obsession.
Actually very little percentage of gamblers would seek any kind of professional help. They usually need to hit the bottom to understand.