Hi JansDad,
Thanks for the post. I understand your situation a lot better after reading this. If I were in your shoes, I would bit by bit drop every friend and acquaintance that has anything to do with gambling. Then I would rebuild a new set of friends and acquaintances bit by bit. Your life is immersed in gambling, from the sounds of it, so trying to stop would be an immense (maybe impossible) challenge every day if it were me. It would be very hard to get a foothold in non-gambling if you are subjected to it day in and day out, and if gambling propositions kept coming your way that appeared to be investment opportunities.
A drug addiction analogy would be living with a house full of drug dealers that offer to make you a lot of money by helping them with their deals, all the while passing bags of the drug you are addicted to back and forth under your nose day in and day out and flashing wads of cash. Even with Easy Way, there is no way you could make it through your recovery in that scenario. I don’t think your situation is much different.
Good Luck JansDad, I really wish you the best in trying to beat this gambling addiction, but I would strongly encourage you to remove yourself from all of the people and situations related to gambling that are currently in your life, because from the sounds of it, it is way too much to handle for any person to attempt a recovery. Peace.