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What I know is that it is not easy to control or help someone that is already an addict and we must try our best to let them know that gambling addiction is something that can be stop with the help of both parties. If a gambler is not ready to stop or too sluggish to put some certains to an end and help to set up a boundary then things is not going to work out well. It is obviously hard for a person to stop gambling when he is already addicted,
the best thing to do is to help him reduce the addiction before putting an end to it.
To be honest, I don't know if it's possible to reduce an addiction. A friend of mine, a former gambling addict, once told me that addiction is such a thing that you either have it, or you don't. You can't reduce it. He was cured by a professional, and he has no addiction know, and I'm happy for him, but it's from him that I know that only a good professional can help you to end your addiction.
I think it was also driven by the desire and intention of your friend to stop gambling alias get out of his addiction because it would not be possible only to be professional to stop gambling addiction, I have a friend who is very difficult to stop gambling and get out of his addiction even though he has tried to contact a professional to stop his addiction, even though he is still playing gambling secretly from his heart's desire, it still continues to encourage him to continue playing.
My friend can't seem to control it so even a professional can't completely stop his addiction, although I heard from the success of your friend, luckily your friend has come out of his addiction, gambling addicts are indeed difficult to cure, therefore before playing gambling gamblers must really be able to control themselves before gambling.