Hi Newshoulder, My experience is that it is a GAMBLING addiction. We all had our favourite “drug of choce” whether that was sports, casinos, or whatever but if we stop one form then start another then the addiction will soon follow. Forms of gambling we may never have founds interesting in the past might become attractive.
So my advice would be avoid all forms of gambling.
Your question is “Should I find myself with friends at a casino one night in the future………”
My advice would be to not find yourself in that position. Once you have told your firiends that you have decided to stop gambling and are no longer interested in going to the casino then there are lots of other activities you can do with them.
This is where we find our who are really our “friends” and who are just “gambling associates.”