Sad truth, once a student start to focus with gambing the chance that they will keep on aiming to earn from it will push them to go deeper, studies or giving value to their education will be taken away as their mindset is that they can make money out from gambling, some may succeed or the small percentage may get what they aiming as there's luck that will back them up, but for sure the majority will suffer, they will experienced the bad side effects of this venue and they will regret things when they already realize the mistake that they've made.
A much sadder truth is that it all depends on the individual’s perspective of gambling, as well as how much they’re willing to control their emotions. I started gambling in my first year in college. At first I was giving my roommate money to help me gamble and they’d do so and most of the time win, and this actually inspired me to learn how to gamble on my own, and even while I made some significant losses, I still was able to manage my emotions and didn’t let gambling get the best of me, and neither did I get addicted. And that’s why I said it solely depends on the person directly involved, so don’t generalize it to all students.
You said it right and like what I mentioned there's some who can make it and manage to make money out from their gambling activities but the thing is, the majority will not and we do know the bad implication of gambling, when things went out of control then that gambler will sort everything to gambling and their focus is no longer to their education, but more on how they'll find ways and that best strategy that will fits them to win.