I would prefer a wife even before I was threatened to choose to continue gambling or threatened by my wife because a wife is someone who will accompany my life until later. There's no need to threaten me to stop gambling because I know when to stop so it's pointless.
Only the immature gamblers will be given such an opinion which they must abide in other for them to maintain their relationship because they are either addicted or have no relevance in their recent life because of gambling, making them to loose focus and not plan for themselves or the family, if i were such, i will do more to the man than just advising withdrawal, i will definitely threat him with things so precious daring to him in ither to triger the force stop.
Maybe that person needs a threat to stop him from gambling because some people need a threat first before they can realize it. And if he really loved his wife, he would stop gambling immediately and never gamble again. But that's up to the person because he decides it himself, especially if he already has a lot of money from gambling. And if that happens, the average person will choose to break up or divorce his wife because they think they can find a new wife.
It's better to be honest even though it hurts because at least they know the situation and if we have problems, they can help overcome them. It's best if your friend tells the truth to his wife and tries to tell if he has a gambling addiction (if he has one).
There are things we cannot hide for long to someone close to us like our spouse, they will definitely know one day or someone got to tell them, which will be a disappointment on them that you're not reliable to have been hiding things from them all these while, it can even cause a separation, so if you gambles, let th know you do and gamble responsibly, no one will suggest you to withdraw when you're serious with your life and family.
And if they are disappointed, they may find it difficult to forgive us. That's why it's better, to tell the truth and what it is so they can understand why we gamble. Well, at least we've tried to be honest and maybe they will help us stop gambling and not have to fight because it will be difficult for many parties, not just us. But we can also make peace with our wife if we can really be responsible gamblers so it won't interfere with our family's finances.