I do agree people love gambling, and those people are seduced with the idea of taking their own monies with the attempt of exponentially increasing it through a win, wins while feeling the excitement, thrills typically caused by dopamine being released in the brain.
Many people do it because of of the same reasons however it is because they are self destructive, and while some may take on some of these other habits ie. excessive alcohol consumption / drug abuse, violence, compulsive and deviant sex; gambling can be often times the more innocuous of the addictions where you could just lose, people close to you, money, possessions, a job; and not get an actual physical illness / disease, or lose your actual life.
Some are very disciplined, analysts, and gifted and make a consistent living doing it, and it's a means to an end.
I'm 48, and gambled 3/4's of my life and have been through all 3 scenarios, with the latter working at least according to my tax returns for over a decade, thank goodness. I'd rather be fishing though. BTW my worst loss came in a business start up, blew through $850k in 9 months, made my historic gambling losses seem like peanuts.
The question, what risk (business, other ventures) isn't actual gambling? And does gambling put a negative connotation on people who do well doing at it which might consider calling what they do non-traditional short term speculations.