I would still differentiate between a successful player and a lucky one. Luck tends to run out and rarely lasts very long. Usually these are small moments. I would call a successful player a professional who has a clear strategy that allows him to have income over the long term. Of course, luck as an element of this can also affect success, but it is not of paramount importance.
I would call a successful player partially dependent, because success is achieved by working on oneself for a long time, and a professional will not be able to achieve this success if he does not experience passion and interest in the game. Therefore, I would call it a controlled dependence, when it is necessary the switch turns on, and when it is not necessary it turns off, if you understand what I mean.
I don't think that people who are successful in gambling rely on new skills to win. I still consider luck to be an essential factor. I agree that he has a very good skill strategy. He controls himself in gambling.
We cannot call successful people addicts, because sometimes he only plays a few games and he wins big in gambling. Only those who are successful and continuously gamble uncontrollably are considered addicted. But success also makes people forget that he was also addicted to gambling.
I see your point and it is valid for some instances, there are gambler who can play few games with decent bankroll and manage to win huge,
they are just too good, and they've got control over their emotions.
They use that experienced not to fall with greed, they are not addicted as they don't need to stay longer and play more just to satisfy the need of gambling.
Else, they are using that experienced as an edge for their gambling participation and make decent profits.
How many games that are truly categorized as gambling are there that allow you to win big when you can control your emotions? What if I am a dumb fuck, full of emotions and put all my money on a number in roulette and win? All this talk about controlling emotions may apply to some games where skill still plays a role, like in poker, but even there the players with the highest control over their emotions have no long term guarantee to be a winner. The word gambling implies that it is a game of chance. You can slightly increase your chance when you avoid bad moves, irrational moves, but after all it's still whether luck is with you or not.