Yea, I have also see few persons with such situation where they totally depend on gambling. To take a clear look at the discussion again, in gambling financial needs comes first before addiction, so if there is a rise in the population of gamblers, they didn't start to gamble because they want to become addicted but most of them actually started gambling because they had interest of making money from it but they became addicted on the process.
Putting making money first is actually what leads most gamblers to getting addicted so easily. I know anyone can get addicted to gambling, even the ones who say they are gambling only for fun, but they don't get addicted easily like those who choose gambling as a means of making money. That's why it's even better if someone has something they are doing which doesn't give them much time to spend gambling; the little they have, they will use very well.