The valuable message that can be taken from my friend above is never take risks to gamble to pay off your debts, the pressure is very big, the chance is very small that you can pay off your debts, often you end up losing even more and losing your money. look for loans, sell your valuables or look for part-time work to pay off your debts, is a good way rather than playing the small money you have in gambling
In gambling or investment only risk what you could afford to lose and they couldn't even afford to pay what they need so why would they even have to risk what they have?
I only agree on instead of risking the little money that they have in gambling they should focus on earning more than they are currently earning since it is clear that it isn't enough, even if they do take loan they would still be indebt so it is useless, the only solution would be to earn more.
What they want is to solve their problems as fast as possible, and they think that gambling can be a way to do this, since gambling could allow them to get enough money for their needs with relatively low effort and do so rapidly, but this is a naive view, since it is way more likely they will lose their money and aggravate their problems instead.