For me it hasn't been life changing, because on long run I'm losing more money than winning. At same time, I don't consider it a hurting experience, because every risks taken and money gambled were calculated, so I just bet with money I can afford to lose and that I won't miss or regret later. I still expect gambling to be a life changing, though, as I hope to win a decent lottery prize someday.
Since our experience in gambling is quite different, we don't expect to have similar experience because of the way we make bets. There are people that vet with big amount of money and if they keep making winnings then they are going to make a lot of money from gambling because of the huge amount of money they keep using to bet. After if they start making loses then they are going to lose a very big amount of money.