As somebody who has over the past 10 years been at various points along the spectrum of retaining some control and being completely out of control, a lot is spoken about compulsive gambling that I agree with and a lot that I don't. I can stand the people who don't own it, it's the easy way out to latch onto the excuse that it's an illness and you can't do anything about it.
Now, that isn't to say that for compulsive gamblers there isn't a 24/7 haze that nips at you during every lonely or boring moment but when it comes to it, you still have that choice. It also isn't to say that at those crucial moments, every single part of your being is telling you that you should just fill your boring Saturday with some excitement or chase that loss from earlier in the day.
To me, it feels as though during that moment, part of my brain switches off. I make sense of data and numbers for people for a living and then I go home and quite often do something completely irrational with no logical basis.