And talking about ego, it is commonly said in African proverb that a stubborn fly follows a corpse to the grave, one who is addicted and knows it, and also knows it has passed a level where he can help himself, and knows he needs professional help, but because of ego, refuse to take that step to seeking help, such person so responsible for what ever befalls him at the end of the day..
There are some acts that are done by impulse and not because the person now understand what they are doing. A gambler may not even know he needs help when he becomes an addict to it, it comes to him as what he must do and so at such a stage, it is the neighbors, family etc that can identify the act and forcefully get help for him either by encouraging him or making it for him to gamble like taking the phone away, refusing to provide internet network if he can't subscribe data for himself. The external difficulties are what will discourage him but for him to complain, that may not happen.