If being free from compulsive gambling were in the victims hands, a good number of them would walk out of it immediately. But since the players can't control decisions anymore, they'll need help to be safe. Only few addicts took the problem solo and solved it, but a lot more of them who wouldn't do same, are not to be blamed.
I think the problem should be prevented before it gets out of hand. Like its always said, prevention is better than cure. No doubt, a gambler who is addicted has lost control over his emotions and mentality when it comes to gambling. The gambler understands that what he is doing is problematic and causes harm to his finance, emotions and relationship but actuality can not help it.
There are a lot of addicts who struggled with the addiction until they were wrecked to nothing. It is always in the interest of the gambler to stay responsible and resist the urge to chase wealth through gambling. It is this shift in mentality that can help the gambler avoid compulsive gambling where the gambler as you mentioned would find it difficult to cope or overcome the problematic in gambling.
as the saying goes that prevention is better than cure, addiction is actually something that can be avoided but it depends on ourselves who are like in viewing gambling and have a mindset like what if we view gambling as one source of income that addiction becomes something that is certain to happen but even so it does not mean there is no way out to overcome it, no matter how bad the addiction there will be a chance to recover if we have a strong intention to recover. Basically losing money in gambling is something that is certain to happen and no one can avoid this even though they are experts in predicting but that does not mean they can avoid defeat very well because in any case defeat has a greater chance than the chance of winning and this applies to all players without exception.