I spoke to my nephew and he told me that he has never stolen from his mother to gamble. And he gambles with only his savings from his weekly stipend he receives from the family. And he won't gamble if he has no savings to do that. From my observation, he is a responsible gambler that is just enjoying the game and making a little money occasionally. The gambling age in my country is 18+, but his mother is insisting that he must stop. What will be your advice for this young boy?
I would advise this young man to spend on entertainment the money that he earned himself. In my opinion, there is no problem that he was interested in gambling, it could be something else (sex, travel or whatever) everything costs money. But it's one thing to spend easy money, and another to spend your hard earned money. If he started working on his own, perhaps he would think more about how to increase his income and not about how to spend it. And thus many optional entertainments would become less interesting to him.
I agree, there is no problem if a person indulge himself in pleasure as long as the money he spent is from his own hard works. But if he is still dependent on his parents, he should value the money he received and just like what the earlier replies stated, valuing it and spending it wisely is the best respect a financial dependent can do to the person who gives him the money.
Regardless of age, if he is still financially dependent, this person should avoid spending the money he received to luxurious stuff, instead he must saved them so that he can have money when time comes the person who is supporting him experience hardship and unable to continue to support this financial dependent person.