If a person can control his emotions and have that kind of mindset where he can only spend a budget amount and nothing else, those people might find some enjoyment and kill boredom, though it's only few people who can do that, some really practice things well and others are been move to do it becuase of thier past experienced.
I agree with your last statement if gambling already affecting you bringing emotional swing it's best to weight in and see if you still can handle the pressure and still able to balance both your mental and financial capabilities.
evaluating when facing a condition where you are doing an activity but causing emotional turmoil or financial pressure to stay balanced is the right thing to do. Having the self-awareness to recognize these signs and the ability to balance mental and financial capacity is the key to ensuring that these activities do not turn into something that causes more financial losses. Because, it will be even more painful if we know that we are in an emotional and stressful position, but continue to play, then we will no longer be able to maintain discipline anymore.
Indeed, as long as you have that full control then you can just take the enjoyment and also the good thing with having the right control, you'll not going to waste both your money and time chasing your losses, you are just using your spare time and money and nothing to exceed.
Though there are times that you feel that excitement and overlook your finances exceeding to your allocated budget, just re-assess and move back to your set limitation.