In my view OP has cosmetic way of looking at things. The shot cut to poverty is loafing and inactive life rather than gambling. Stirring imposed by gambling on people who have active live and have skills to make money in all possible ways may result in enhancing the entrepreneur's streaks relevant to given characters. Thus, all depends on the given character. If the person is lazy per se then the poverty at the end no matter whether he is gambler or not .
You are right, it is strictly an individual mindset to think or generalize that gambling is a short cut to poverty and considering the fact different people tend to approach gambling in different ways. However, it is not gambling itself that can make the road shorter for any one but rather the individual approach is exactly what could lead to poverty that is if the person in question is already rich and have chosen to approach gambling the wrong way, but come to think of it, from the op concepts I think the only way gambling will be a short cut to poverty is only when the person in question is already rich and decide to spend most of it in to gambling without a return instead of investing.
Hmm that's right, honestly I agree with your assumption above my friend that what actually makes them experience a slump to reach the lowest point in their financial situation is not caused by gambling but rather by their own wrong way of treating gambling, it can be said that maybe gambling is just a place for them to experience a slump, because basically in any case if for example you can't treat it well and properly then of course it will also have a bad impact. Such as the matter of loans which on the other hand is a solution that we can use to help us solve problems such as when we need money in an emergency but when you use loans in the wrong way and without setting limits then it is clear as we see now that not a few people are experiencing problems in debt, that's how simple it is in my opinion.