I can't argue otherwise that gambling is not a shortcut to poverty as anything risky and senselessly done can deep you into poverty. But what I won't agree with is that all people can be poor due to gambling, it's all about how we prepare for it and actually engage in it. Gambling itself is not bad, the issue is that people are engaging in the activity wrongly, so what do you expect? Most people gambling are doing it for the money and some are even very desperate to earn money from it. This bad mindset towards gambling will never help anyone but further push them into poverty because they can never be responsible in doing it and this will surely end up in frustration.
I love your comment, every thing you said is exactly on point, anything done too much or wrongly is bad as a matter of fact, and such can cause of bring negative repercussions regardless of the thing is a good thing. Take eating for example, we eat to gain not just strength through energy that is released to our body system, but we also eat to gain other nutrients that our body system needs to stay healthy, one can say that eating then is good, but on the other hand, eating too much is very bad and can have serious negative effects on our body system.
So also is gambling, gambling is not a bad thing or activity just as you have said or mentioned, but the issue lies in how most gamblers go about their gambling activities, this is the problem and it's absolutely wrong to say that gambling leads to poverty, I know many who through gambling are millionaires today because they played their cards well and luck also was on their side.
How we go about gambling is what determines what the outcome will likely be for us in terms of finance.