I think there will always be people who say things that are politically correct but never follows it. I can resort to gambling as a means to earn something on the side or I could treat it as a hobby. My personal take on this is that you shouldn't tell people what to do with their money since you don't know how they handle it. People can gamble if they want to as long as they are responsible.
What that happened to people like the OP is that I believe he has been addicted to gambling before and that makes him to detest gambling after he was able to overcome the addiction. People like them are the ones that will always tell people to quit gambling but forgot to know that there are many gamblers that are not addicted. Some people just play it.