Ok you are gambling just for fun, your friends and neighbors knows that and a friend invited you to his party to be one of the candidates as a councilor and campaign will start in 6 months, now, of course, you need to have a good reputation, will you stop gambling just to have a good image this coming campaign and how will you defend yourself if accused as a gambler.
I have been a gambler for last 6+ years and I am somehow managing to be gambling secretly without letting know even my family members. Due to the wide availability of online gambling along with crypto payments, I guess it will be possible for anyone to keep their gambling activities highly confidential. If you bother about your image in society then you should go for only online gambling so that you can keep your reputation always high.
Moreover, I am not thinking being a gambler is not a bad thing to be treated improperly. I mean that you cannot assume when someone will be referring you as a gambler then that is not a kind of accusation. Because, gambling is not an illegal thing (except few countries) hence a person does not need to be ashamed for being a gambler.