Some people hide their gambling habits due to feelings of shame, guilt, or embarrassment about their behaviour. They may fear judgment from others, worry about the consequences of their actions, or feel unable to control their gambling urges. Hiding allows them to avoid facing the reality of their addiction and the potential negative repercussions it may bring to their relationships, finances, and overall well-being.
There are people that are very confident in gambling and can do anything or go extra miles for them to bet and win.
There emare also people that are very shy at things even when gambling and would not want people to keep seeing them at the casino or gambling shop because they might not want their personality to be exposed to their friends and family or people that might know them.
We all have different personalities and there are people that are bold while some are very shy so no matter the kind of temperament that we might have, there is nothing wrong with hiding to bet since we might not want to disclosed our activities to others.
I think the perception of every gambler differs based on their current behavior or personality. Change is constant and humans adopt it quickly than any other feeling. The truth remains that when a gambler is not interested in letting people discover his gambling behavior, he'd do anything possible to conceal the attitude. A concealed reason would be hard to decipher or discover. Hence, finding out the reason behind the privacy a gambler puts on his gaming activity is quite a huge task. I can only guess, from the perspective of players on this table. Most of them like you said wouldn't want to disclose a lot about everything they do.
It's quite crucial for them for some reason, maybe due to their influence, a player wouldn't want close friend to begin to gamble because of him. I think is for a positive reason for some, and negative for another. However, whatever the reason is, players who hide their gambling activity may not be doing something abstract from every other gambler who plays openly. What is most important is letting the whole behavior flow with no addictive signs attached. Although the downside of the behavior is there, and the player would face the music once he gets into problem gambling. Aside that disputes, a player who hides his gambling habit is cool provided he's not compulsive.