You are correct, if someone very young becomes addicted to gambling he or she can erase is dreams in life and go the route of gambling thinking that it will bring them everything they needed in this world.
When things start happening in a way that they don't expect, they might not quit, they might keep pushing harder until nothing works out like they wanted, and this could change them completely, starting all over again in the real world will be so hard to do.
Gambling messed with the mind and the way we think, only if you allow it, but if you are someone who already knows the odds of getting lucky in gambling, you ain't going to ever fall under the rug for gambling, I would rather get addicted to my career in the real world, as a fashionist but not gambling.
Any addiction has negative consequences for a person, but we are so organized that we always want more. This is what leads to problems. In my opinion, to learn how to get rid of addictions, you just need to learn to limit your desires. And to do this is actually not so difficult. I got rid of several addictions and right now I am in a struggle with myself and the desire to eat sweets, because of which my daily norm of energy value is significantly exceeded. A person is capable of a lot of things, if only the desire.
I am sure that if I had a problem with gambling, I would be able to overcome this addiction.