I agree with this point, it is very important to have that self decision that you want to stop gambling of which that will make you explore every means to getting free from it but if you have not put your mind to stopping, you will still back to it and go back to gambling after trying to stop. Gamblers are the problem to themselves when they ever want to quit gambling, you see some of them still trying to make quick money and find themselves going back to it repeatedly. If you wan to quit gambling, firstly make the decision and every other thing is secondary.
To take self decision about stopping gambling we have to do several things otherwise we will miss everything which will be required for gambling. First of all we don't have to keep any free time we have to spend all the time in our work or at least we have to read/write novels, watch movies and so on. If we have free space then we must have to proper use of our time.
I had a girlfriend and I was very much addicted to her but she had a trend to cheat but still I liked her a lot but when we broke up I was very hurt. Due to irregularity in my job my source of income was almost stopped at that time a close friend helped me to get out of that situation. He advised me to work harder to forget my mental pain. According to his advice I started focusing on my job and trying to increase my source of income and I was very successful.
If someone is addicted to gambling then he should stop gambling. Secondly to forget the pain of losing money you should focus on your work and try to increase your source of income. Nature will reward your hard work.