I have never been addicted but I have seen people who were addicted to gambling and i can say it is really a bad experience for them and something one should not wish for or try to be a victim of. I have a friend that was addicted to gambling for over years and anytime he has money instead of him to take care of pressing needs he will use the money to go and gamble and after losing the money he will start regretting and once money entered his hand again he will rush to casino and lavish the money and even when he is on profit he will not stop he will continue untill he lost everything. He has not stopped finally but he has reduce and I believe he made a decision and God helped him.
You are lucky not to have been addicted before but I must tell you that addiction comes even before you can identify it, so if you are being loose with gambling somehow or doing it without proper check with a budget, then you need to do better to set boundaries before you find yourself crossing the line.
I have been addicted before, although for a very short while, maybe almost a year or so and I had to quit gambling totally for a while to induce sanity into myself and with the help of my very good friend who encouraged me through the struggles, I was able to pull out of the depression of serious fund loss and emotional trauma of being irresponsible. Trust me, it is not a place you would want to be and it takes very little oversight or lack of discipline to head down that road.