I can't help but want to say: so what? I also knew someone like that once. Of course, I wasn't his friend, just an acquaintance. And he lost his family too, but the worst part is that he lost his stake in a big business. He actually gambled away his share of the business. More specifically, roulette. Even at that time, all his relatives gave him advice, even forced him to be treated for gambling addiction, but without success. No amount of advice can influence a person until he decides to change his life.
The thing is that, he mess up from the uncent by becoming deep in gambling when you know that you have a business to run, this is because at some point, it's a risk to be a business man and still be exposed to gambling, because as a business person you have access to available money and at that you could get carried to gamble more than you should since the money is there, and to get such a person out of that condition is not by disating him like his family did but to stay strong with him and see him through.