In most cases, if someone notices that a person is starting to sink into addiction and tries to help him, this will have little chance of success. Because you won't be able to be with this person 24/7, and in any case, he will find an opportunity to run away or hide it from you.
Unfortunately, usually a game addict will only ask for help at the very last moment, when he is at the bottom. But there are even difficult cases when, having lost everything, they don't admit it openly. This ends very sadly for them.
Even though the chance looks small, that person should still try it, especially if the gambling addict is his best friend. No one wants to see their best friend sink into gambling and become a heavy gambling addict and they will try to save him before something worse happens to his best friend.
And if he can't be with the gambling addict 24/7, he can ask people close to the gambling addict to keep an eye on him and let him know if anything happens. But indeed, the assistance can often be too late, especially if these people cannot be with them every day and every time.
Look mate, there is a saying in my place that 'he who is not ready to save himself, nobody can save that person, no matter how hard they try', being a friend to an addict gambler does not mean you should turn yourself to a babysitter, most especially in a case where the addict him or her self isn't even a baby.
Don't get me wrong though, its not a bad thing to try to help, after all the biblical law commands us to be our brother's keeper, but then, you can only help someone who is willing and in need of help, else your effort will just be wasted one, and if not careful, you might even end up becoming an enemy to the said or supposed friend, this opinion of mine is based on personal experience though.
Well that's true. It's like forcing someone that isn't willing to change to a rehab center and doing the same thing after getting out of a rehab. It's just wasting resources, money and effort on someone that no plan in doing the right thing for himself. It's hard to help gambling addicts if they aren't willing to help themselves knowing how easy it is for them to access casino nowadays. A gambling addict that has a resolve to change even without any help is much better than a person who has all the help but isn't willing to change at all.