Out of curiosity I once went into a very small-time casino. I ended up at a blackjack table with various characters, one of whom was a single mom. She said she was playing to get money to buy the kids Easter chocolate. She was quite experienced and was up a few hundred dollars for a while. And she said that was it, she was leaving. And then she didn’t. And then lost it all. And then gained some back. And lost that too.

By the time I’d slowly bled away my $20 and gave up, she was still there.