If the winnings at gambling were not money then I think very few people would be addicted to it or even none.
But the fact is that casinos make money as the object of winnings or meaning winnings in the form of money which in fact all humans on earth need money, and when they get money from gambling intentionally or not then obviously they will think that it seems like a good place to earn, so of course as you said that it all starts with a cycle of winnings that are usually not too big for the initial stage which then they want such results to be repeated again with a larger amount of winnings.
The excitement and pleasure reaction resulting from earning almost makes them forget the real facts in gambling about probability that eventually some controls and limits over time are forgotten, but when they try it again it turns out that the results do not match the previous ones which means that in the next session they lose. The question is will they stop? No, curiosity and the inability to accept the harsh reality will play a role because they were able to get a win before. They will think that "the same old win will definitely be repeated", strangely they are so sure about it that they are unconsciously addicted and their money is eroded.
Most times these gamblers think ",hey it's high time I stopped gambling, I'm losing lots of money " but greed won't let them think straight and stop gambling, it keeps telling them "keep pushing, today might be your winning day, don't stop, don't be a coward..." This is enough motivation to work even harder gambling. The very moment they record one win, they forget about all their losses in the past. This one win becomes a great push for them to invest even more. This they do until they get drowned in gambling, then family and friends begin to get worried over his change of behaviour, his finances becomes affected, he pays little attention to other hobbies and activities. His life just got ruined and he's not even aware of it. Many people who got addicted don't even know they are addicted until they begin to experience one problem or the other as a result of gambling.
It is obvious that all gamblers will say "this time I will definitely be able to be one of the lucky ones among the 10 playing on the table" but the fact that happens at the end of the session always slaps them, and I say it is a cycle because of course the next time they will also motivate themselves by putting new confidence in the next session, as I said above that the problem is that they are too excessive in hope and come with the wrong understanding. Exactly, for the situation of people who are already addicted they will recover from dozens of defeats when they manage to get one victory, when in reality the number is not balanced and the number of losses is still far greater. So it is right to say that this is a cycle that will continue to repeat itself based on excessive expectations that of course make them always curious.