Gambling can never be banned - it is the life support for the people and sometime it is very helpful for the economy for bringing in the revenue.
There is no question about the gambling industry helping to bring revenue to a country. But do not generalize that it's the "life support" of everyone.
I think the figure of speech used was just too much but at some point, that's a fact for a country where the gambling industry is big.
A good example is Macau were around 80% of the revenue came from gambling. If that industry crashes.