I agree, although I think it goes beyond that in a way. What you said also shows that it's not just a matter of whether the base activity is legal, but what kind of apparatus grows up around it. The tricks you mention (gamifying, ads, endorsements, VC, etc.) have also been applied to all kinds of other markets (food, cosmetics, music, cars, "wellness", etc.), and they are all worse for it. It's true that when you combine something inherently destructive like gambling with these amplifying factors, you get a particularly toxic result. But I think that, for instance, we would be a lot better off if 90% of current ads, VC, and big corporations were themselves banned.