Don't forget to tell his friend to search for the online crypto gambling website which can give them a free coin at the faucet, so his friend doesn't have to deposit anything in the beginning. But I hope that his friend has good control of himself so he can prevent from using much money to just playing gambling. Many people in the first time can control themselves, but after the time pass, they lose the control, and they become addicted so if he can tell and always remind his friend about the addiction to gambling.
Honestly, I recently stop gambling for a while. But this is what me and my friend do too. He thought me how to get coins from the faucet and those coins are allocated for our gambling. I think this is a nice suggestion. I hope OP will see this for his friend. It is kind of a safe bet too, you aren't using any money allocated for the essentials you need specially during this pandemic. Me and my friend bet in esports(CSGO and DOTA 2) because that's what we play.