The drugs, alcohol kick in as soon as the sorrow hits. It becomes an endless cycle, but if the prime motive was having fun and not trying to double your income to zero then that part would not come in.
But I guess most gambler are visiting casinos to make money which is why the addiction is so huge. Those small wins once a while fuel the need to play more and that keep the player in trying to repeat the same thing over and over and losing again.
Asking a gambler to become responsible is tough, it takes time but is possible.
Yes, it is indeed a cycle that once started, it becomes difficult to stop later, gamblers first go to gamble, and get small wins, and over time their needs and greed increase, and they want to win bigger, and because of their greed for this bigger win, they keep gambling more and lose more.
And thus at one stage they start to become destitute, and thus they start taking drugs, and from being an addicted gambler they become a drug addict.
This is why it is important to have limits in gambling, if a gambler starts gambling uncontrollably, it will first plunge him into a deep addiction to gambling, and gradually make him completely destitute, which will turn his beautiful future into absolute hell.
So one should always gamble responsibly and in a self-controlled manner, and not gamble to be for achive success, for success do good deeds, never look for shortcuts to get success, success is achieved through honest work, and gambling should be kept only as entertainment.
If gambling is seen as a form of entertainment only and gamblers adhere to its limitations properly, so the chances of falling into this vicious cycle are greatly reduced.