I am curious to know if someone continually invested a lot of time in studying a game involved in gambling, further if he had played the game a lot to understand the intricacies involved, then can we call him an expert in that gambling game? If we do call him an expert then we clearly differentiate his experience and expertise from that of a novice. This clearly shows that the person is capable of winning more as an expert than the novice who really does not have the in-depth understanding of the play.
This brings us to an interesting question if hard work in gambling really pays off? If one puts in a lot of efforts to understand a game involved in gambling, does it mean that all his time has gone down the drain? Certainly no. If gambling were simply a blind guess or a wild shot then even years of studying it makes it useless because one is simply guessing the outcome blindly. But such is not the scenario with gambling in reality. What makes hard work count in gambling?
This further sets off the question of addiction in gambling. Work can also be an addiction for many. But here the addiction could be for perfecting the game and the art of playing. This kind of addiction is to struggle every time for success by proper calculation and review. However, addiction can also be due to pure greed of winning with no clear knowledge of the game. If hard work counts, then we may actually find a solution for a healthier addiction towards success in gambling.
You touch several points, first about addiction, addiction is basically to keep doing something despite the knowledge that it damages yourself, Lionel Messi could be said to be addicted to soccer by some, but since his behavior benefits him in the form of fame and a lot of money then we cannot say that he is addicted to soccer and the same can be said about those that earn money with gambling.
Second hard work can bring fruits in gambling but only in the casino games that can be beaten and that can produce a positive expected value, one of those games is poker, most people lose their money but if you keep playing and practicing your game you will come to eventually make some profits, while many people think that poker is a game of luck, it is known that your skill counts for most part of your success and that is why most of the time you see the same familiar faces making a lot of money on television.