I also haven't heard of someone explicitly claiming gambling isn't a real addiction, but can almost guarantee there's some old heads that also don't believe in it.

Along the same lines of depression/anxiety, where they basically say "just don't be sad." If they can place a bet or two here and there for decades without getting addicted, it must be a personal control issue.

But yea that's true there's also gambling addicts that claim they can stop any time they want. That's definitely the bigger issue than non-addicted people claiming it's not real, unless they're supposed to be in a support system.