That's a pretty simplistic view tbh. Gambling vehicles that are cynically designed to induce addiction are far more insidious and damaging than those that are more passive. Pokie betting formed half of total gambling expenditure last year ($12B) compared to racing ($3B) and sports ($0.9B). If ever you wanted to see the effect of low unit, high frequency gambling vehicles, the revenue numbers speak for themselves.
I totally agree that my throw away comment was dismissive of the problem that gambling presents to individuals, especially with regard to pokies.
But I think that we culturally accept gambling and have done so for a long time. In much the same way we accept drinking and had accepted smoking.
If, however, we present gambling as only something people do when that are not smart enough to know the odds are stacked against them, then we start teaching kids about the reality of betting.
Smoking has been stigmatised and the rate of teenagers taking it up has dropped, as it is not perceived as cool. If people perceive gambling in a similar way, then this will go a long way to stopping people from participating and hence they won’t be in the position to become addicted.