When people first start gambling, people think this is just a game, but over time it becomes a habit and leads to dependence. If addicted to gambling, players will constantly pursue bets leading to losses, extracting available money, even stealing, and cheating to get money to satisfy addiction. Regularly plan to get more gambling money, such as lying to family or acquaintances to borrow money to gamble. When the loss is extreme, family and friends stay away from the creditor to come to them. They can be psychologically unstable, sometimes leading to suicidal thoughts.
Yes, absolutely.
It's basically the same as any other addiction. Alcoholics usually start with a single beer, then a bit more, then suddenly they are drinking every day, all day.
It's the same mechanism in the brain, the dopamine creation loop.
That is not of the most interestings parts of studying addictions, in my opinion. The dopamine creation loop, as you call it.
In the case of gambling I find it even more interesting because unlike smoking, or drinking alcohol, it does not involve the direct consumption of substances which can alter our central nervous system, but rather the brain gets used to its own dopamine production. Because of this Gambling addiction can be closer in nature to other kind of dependences (which are called "psychological dependences"). For example, toxic relationships, when one day your partner loves you and suddenly they can physically hurt you. Those unfortunate cases can be as uncertain to the outcome of a gambling session...
But in the case of alcohol and tobacco addiction, it is called stimulant addiction. For example, cigarettes contain the ingredient "nicotine," which is an addictive substance. And about non-substance-dependent causes of addiction, Call it 'behavioral addiction. We can see it in gambling.
Now imagine how profitable a casino can be if they have a smoking area with slots and blackjack, while at the same they offer some free drinks to keep their guess happy.
Sometimes we understimate how many mechanism can be used to stimulate the dopamine receptors in your brain. They only thing which could improve that hypothetical casino which I just described would be if the waitresses are pretty and very social. They must call Las Vegas the city of sins for a very good reason.
Also, I am not sure "behavioral addiction" is a correct term for what an gambling addict suffers.