When the drive for gambling is higher than the drive to engage in productive tasks and when you gambling interferes with your activities in an unhealthy way and you're unable to control yourself and how often you gamble. Worse still, gambling more even when you're already dealing with a big financial loss

As easy as possible, as soon as  you lose your discipline to it _{if you had any} and start engaging more frequently than supposed and without a budget, Addiction is already nearby.

I actually did work my way through. I had to quit gambling for some years, replaced my grabbling urge with a digital skill which gave me money and returned a more disciplined and cautious gambler.