You can't associate poker players with gambling either. Those are two completely different things. Of course you need luck with poker but you don't just depend on luck and that's the big difference. I think that poker is also older than (online) gambling. I'm still curious when online poker became popular and when it came on the market and originated. You also don't hear many new poker sites appearing, while at casinos and bookmakers you see one bookmaker after another emerging and new to the business.
How can we not associate poker with gambling? Of course poker players are people (noun) while gambling is a kind of action (verb) where a person plays a game of chance. But saying Poker can't be associated with gambling, I disagree with that. According to the article[1]
Is Poker Gambling?
The short answer is yes – poker still falls under the category of gambling, despite its status as a game of skill. Consider the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of gambling:
Gambling – the practice or activity of betting; the practice of risking money or other stakes in a game or bet.
Indeed Poker is considered a skill-based game but before the skill is applied, the cards are presented in random order so it is played partially by luck then followed by skill due to the strategy but in most cases, no matter how good a player's strategy is, the result of the Poker games depends on the initial cards and the succeeding cards which is dependent on the random chance. Not saying Poker games is also associated with bets and gambling.
[1]
https://upswingpoker.com/is-poker-considered-gambling-debate-over/#:~:text=The%20short%20answer%20is%20yes,in%20a%20game%20or%20bet.