I've been in GA since 1998. How they differ is fundamentally this: you can't drink your entire week's wages worth of alcohol in a week. You can gamble your entire week's wages in a few minutes. An alcoholic or drug addict cannot indefinitely hide their habit due to the physiological effects that eventually become apparent. Compulsive gamblers can keep gambling for years, appearing to all like a functioning member of society, gambling way beyond their means before they get caught. Gambling addicts that turn to crime typically commit the biggest/longest running thefts/fraud. Gambling addiction has the highest suicide rate by far.