Playing video games is not always effective in overcoming gambling addiction depending on individual personality, some adventurous or war video games might help fill the time to avoid gambling activities without buying any items from the game.
For me the main solution to disappearing gambling is that he has committed not to gamble anymore and avoids the gambling environment or keeps his distance from his gambling friends, he has to find a new environment to forget his past and has to have more activities outside to hang out with friends. He must change his mindset to appreciate the income from hard work not to be wasted on gambling, but apply his financial management to family needs and financial needs for your future.
Mindset is the engine room for making crucial decisions, which inturns it can be a negative or positive one on our lives. Another thing is stay or avoid friends that gamble, because they will definitely influenced the mind with these activities. Gambling is not an option to break out free from finance challenges, instead we ought to look for a more legit reliable source to generate income. Perhaps there are several ways this path can be done, all we have to do is to make sure we understand what we are doing, and most importantly what favours us.
But the problem is if someone doesn't immediately change his mindset and still feels comfortable playing gambling, it will be difficult for him to stop his gambling habit. Perhaps moving locations can help him to change his old habits because he needs to adapt to his new environment.
But some people don't care about their environment, especially if they already have a busy life. In this case, they are playing gambling without stopping. It will be even more difficult to stop it. Perhaps, he needs to be faced with a situation where he can't do anything anymore, even just playing gambling, then he can realize that he has made a fatal mistake and needs to change immediately. A strong desire to change can help him change his mindset to avoid gambling.