The truth is, most people believe that winning is the actual thing when talking about success stories in gambling, I almost believed it to be true not until I first saw an article that talked about the success story of a gambling addict who became free of the addiction after battling with it for a long timetime, but when a responsible gambler is talking about their own success story, I believe they could be referring to their winning.
Could gamble success story be that betting has helped one to be free from a harmful addiction. Some people might be addicted to hard drugs or alcohol, which is damaging their health. In some cases, they might replace such harmful behaviour with gambling. If they successfully stop the harmful behaviour because of their gambling engagements, it could be called a gambling success story. Nevertheless, addicts getting free and winning big could also be called success in gambling.