Personally, I think that gambling or not everyone decides for himself, but to hide it, at least from your closest people is not the best solution. In addition, very often it turns out that the people around you know more about you than you imagine.
It is difficult to ask for a helping hand when you hide from the closest people that you play gambling. It is not that hard to become a gambling addict. If you ask any gambling addict how he got into such a situation, it is very likely that he will either not admit that he has any problems, or will say that he does not understand how it happened.