Others are just putting too much negative to the term "addicted". Not all addicted are considered on the verge now of becoming crazy. I truly believe that there are lots of addicted gamblers that are responsible on other aspects of their life. They just do gambling maybe because of personal reasons and seems these addicted gamblers can afford to cover their gambling expenses without affecting their finance on their family.
If only all addicted gamblers are like that then we might see a healthy gambling environment but that's not possible to happened at everyone.
I do think that the word "addict" has a general misconception and stigma on its definition given on how it is used across this board.
To generalize, addict is someone who is just really likes to do a certain act. Most addicts have this connotation that they are unable to make rational decisions given that their addiction causes them to lose their sense of direction in their lives. But if a certain addict can balance their addiction and normal lives, then I do not see any problem with it.
Like what you have mentioned, an addict does not necessarily mean a negative thing for as long as they can balance things out. To be honest, I do consider myself as a computer addict (addiction to online games) but I seem to find the perfect balance between my studies and my addiction to playing games online.