If he has been gambling for a long time and cannot stop himself from gambling then it is likely that he has entered the gambling addiction phase. and that way he will feel the problem coming little by little starting with himself not being able to resist gambling and that way he will always think about gambling. With only a little free time he will use his free time to gamble because he feels there is nothing to do and feeling bored it is likely that he will turn to gambling.
and the other side is that he can't stop himself from gambling, which means he can spend a lot of money in a short time this is a common problem, because every gambling addict will experience this, but they will not look here and will not easily realize it. What they do is their goal is to become seriously addicted to gambling. It's true what you said maybe he could also become obsessed, by gambling continuously even though it's not fun and his goals change.
The beginning of addiction is that you enjoy gambling too much and can't stop yourself from betting even one day. Gamblers must be able to control this, otherwise whatever allocation they make for betting could run out. It can even damage the gambler's finances.
because they play often, gamblers will likely spend more of their money. and it can be a gambler without control. However, what can be controlled is the gambler himself. External factors may help, but with today's effortless access, gamblers can become addicted more easily.
Sometimes even we're saying that we will only gamble to have fun, it can change when you're too attached to win the game. In a way you're determine to recover what you have lost which we know quite hard to do and can lead to further losses.
Having a self-control when you play is really crucial to not get carried away by emotion (depending on the result of what you play). It's always good to be aware of the risk rather than realizing this after experiencing it yourself just because you didn't listen and you ignored the reminders.