Gambling can be genetic and passed on to offspring, but I have noticed that females are not addicted as male when it comes to gambling and that gives me doubt about it, or maybe that is how it is in my region, men are most into gambling. Or maybe the gene is more concentrated in men than women.
No one can blame addicts, but any bad deeds done by them can be punished. The more fact we need is that addiction is not good, it can lead to a kind of life someone do not wish for himself, the reason we should use just the amount of money we can afford to lose and nothing more than that.
I think it does not have to do with the genes perse, but it has something to do on how the child is brought up with.
If the child, while growing up, was exposed severely to an environment where everyone around him suffers from gambling addiction, chances are that the child would inherit such lifestyle, thus sparking his curiosity. What matters is that, the child is exposed to an environment where learning and curiosity exists. Of course, genes may be a factor but it wholly depends on the environment and lifestyle he/she is brought up with.