It's important to remember that gambling should never be seen as a way to payy off debts or make money, but rather be seen as a form o entertainment. If ever you are in the situation of struggling to pay off debts, like what OP mentioned, opt for getting loans, selling valuables, or maybe find a part time work. It may not be as quick or easy as gambling, but these options are more reliable and less risky. It's important to set limits, practice responsible gambling and seek help if needed.
You are right, but the fact remains that risk takers will always take risks, this is not the very first time someone would turn to gambling as their last solution of getting money to solve a particular problem or to resolve a certain situation in their lives.
If you are very familiar with history, you should remember the story of the FedEx CEO, how the company was at the verge of declaring themselves bankrupt due to lack of funding, how the FedEx CEO; according to the story took the last $5000 the company had and traveled to Las Vegas where he used the money to play gambling, slot games I suppose, and how he luckily won a jackpot in the sum of around $25,000 or so, it was said that it was through this money, that the company came back alive, they started operation normally again and profit started coming in, and today, FedEx is known all over the world.
If the CEO had lost that $5000, the company would have declared bankruptcy and closed down, a lot of people would have blamed the CEO for using the last $5000 belonging to the company to gamble, just like we now blame the gambler in the ops story for gambling to try to pay his dept, if he had won, I guess alot of us would have celebrated him, and called him a hero, same way the FedEx CEO was celebrated and called a hero for saving his dying company through gambling.