This now triggered me to come ask here whether you cares about what people says or sees you as when gambling, I know there are people who don't know you from time or who doesn't believe that you are a gambler and if it happens that you came across such people and their reaction towards you goes other way round would you care about it or you just totally ignore them?
Let's discuss amicably
From my perspective, it’s best not to pay attention to what others think or say. Gambling is a sensitive topic, and people won’t spare you from criticism, even if you try to show them you’re playing responsibly. Maybe they’ve seen bad examples in their lives and hold certain biases, so whatever you do, explain, or show...nothing will change.
You are exactly right, like I believe I must have mentioned on my previous comment on this thread which is already a very long time ago, I myself used to hate gambling with passion, and so also I hated gamblers as well, and saw all of them as irresponsible people, since the mindset installed in me back then was that it was only criminals who gambled, so this made me to see every person I saw gambling as criminal, and this also I believe had something to do with the environment where I grew up in, since there were no modern casinos in the area, most gamblers were smokers who would often gather themselves in an uncompleted buildings, smoking and drinking while they gambled using card games mostly, most of this people were also criminals in the society.
I grew up and traveled to better developed places and there, I discovered that gambling can be clean, that even well educated people with white collar jobs do gamble, this completely changed my mindset about gambling..
And I myself started gambling after meet a guy in my working place whom I later become best friend with, he was a very cool and responsible guy, and also a gambler, one of his big winnings was what triggered me into asking him to teach me how to gamble, and that was how I myself became one.
The best advice is, do what makes you happy and leave what people will say or do, as long as what you are doing is not a crime and it doesn't affect you and people around you negatively.