Well I think it is very much possible to live a very comfortable and stable life from gambling and I've seen and I know personally someone who lives atkeast a comfortable life totally off gambling and some little business raised from gambling proceeds. He had a daughter nf a wife and lives in his own house and not rent and he also drives a car and also owns over two unisex saloons and all these were proceeds from gambling and what really matters is how well we live our lives when we make big wins.
I'm sorry your friend got carried away but the truth is that he never made judicious use of his winnings and that was why he went back to trenches and not necessarily because he was a gambler.
I have no doubts there are indeed some gamblers out there which can indeed make a living out of gambling, but how many of those that try actually reach their goal? While the lifestyle may seem attractive to some, very few have what is needed to achieve this goal, and this is because most people are used to work a 9 to 5 kind of job in which they know in advance how much money they are going to be paid, but a professional gambler has no idea at all of how much and when they will earn any money, adding a great deal of uncertainty to their lives.