I also encountered a person in my life who was always looking for where to borrow money.
At first I thought that he became a drug addict and he needed drugs. But then I found out that all he borrowed was losing gambling in the casino. And it became easier for me, because I finally found out that he was not a drug addict, but just a gambler. However, this disease is also very dangerous and can drive you crazy. But, Glory to the Almighty, this friend of mine managed to improve and has now stopped playing, has become an exemplary family man and everything is fine with him. But all of us, his acquaintances, now never talk about this enduring passion when he is with us. And of course we don't gamble when he's around.
That's a very troublesome image and I hope that everyone who is in the same pit as your friend was would get out of it. Unfortunately, people do not realize that "gambling addiction" is still an addiction but because it doesn't hurt your body, people do not rush into fixing it. Like drugs, which could kill you, and gambling doesn't, so people do not see them as equal, and maybe they are not equal at all but that doesn't make gambling addiction any less of a problem.
I had a tiny start of it, long time ago, it never really became big at all but it did upset my mental health when I first learned and gambled, but I never let it became big but I saw how horrible it could become.