i've always found it very strange that things like alcohol, drug and gambling addiction are described as diseases.
it seems much more like a psychological condition to me. to cure it your need your behavior patterns restructured which is not something an operation or drug is likely to solve.
on top of that addiction implies a physical need whereas gambling is a craving or compulsion. an alcoholic or heroin addict may suffer severe physical consequences if they don't get what they're addicted to. it's not quite the same for a gambler but no doubt they're gonna be sad.
In my opinion gambling addiction is not a disease because a disease can be traded in hospital but addiction cannot be traded anywhere. An addicted person can leave ambling but not forever. After some time he will start again and this thing distinguishes addiction from disease. Yea we can call gambling as physiological disease and can be treated only by best friends and family members.
In my opinion gambling is an addiction and not disease, because you cannot quit gambling and when your disease accedes it will not leave you till death. One you cannot leave and the other does not leave you. This is the difference between addiction and disease. Therefore I can say that gambling is an addiction because you cannot leave it until it destroys you.