Yes, we can't get to know the true mind of a person watching from the outside. When it comes to gambling, the advice we give can bring good to them. But, everyone won't take it in the same way. For our mind satisfaction we can give advice or brief the real-time experience.
We can give short story with our bad gambling experiences and if they are not going to stop. We are likely going to give them the best advise for their good.
But after that, it is hard to know if they will listen.
The gamblers won't listen. Telling your short story sounds like a good idea, but that seems just like what OP did and it didn't give any positive result. The problem is that a gambler who's chasing losses won't stop no matter what. If they were in their right mind - they could've understood what's happening and see what's coming themselves. But in such cases, it's almost like talking to a kid, you tell them to learn from your mistakes but they keep thinking "that happened to you, that won't happen to me". And here we go.
My university friend is a very gambling person. He loses his entire scholarship at slot machines.
Before the game, he drinks half a bottle of brandy.
Several times I tried to stop him. I remember I asked him - "What do you need to sober up?" He said - "To sober up - I need to drink a large mug of coffee." I bought him a large mug of coffee and a cupcake.
He drank coffee, ate a cupcake, but continued to remain in a state of alcoholic intoxication. Moreover, he began to behave aggressively (which is not typical for him) and tried to start a fight with me.
After this incident, I realized that it is impossible to rid the player of gambling addiction.
And my friend lost his scholarship and started taking loans and credits so that he could keep playing.