Personally, I have never been to a real casino or anything remotely close, such as a Bookies.
However, I was (am?) a big addict. I became addicted very much through online gambling on bookie websites. I used to do something called Matched Betting which was amazing and I was earning fantastic money, but in one single day I won not 1, not 2 but about 4 "mini" jackpots on casino slots (and by "mini" I mean about £4,000 - £6,000 each jackpot, and ever since that day I was addicted, looking for the next "bigger jackpot" and that buzz. Of course, I spiralled into a deep depression and eventually did get help, I downloaded software that would not allow me onto bookie sites (and the only way to remove the software from my pc was to use another software and code which they would not provide me for at least 1 year). This worked, the year passed and then I was able to ban myself from ALL bookies, bingo (yes also, they can be good money), casinos, etc online.
My biggest problem, or well, sort of was the fact online it doesn't seem "real". In most places, casinos, for example, "convert" money to their own coins or tokens or you know, so then it doesn't have that same look or feel, your mind somewhat plays tricks on you.
Multiple times after winning that £20k+ I sat there and gambled it ALL (all but a few hundred) and luckily won it all back from big bonuses. That was a gut-wrenching feeling to experience, almost losing all that money from being stupid. But I always tried to tell myself "oh well, it's money you didn't have so win more, lose it all, no matter" instead of "hey I could buy some great things, pay lots of bills, etc" with it...
My point here is, mine was digital, all digital. I never had, never have and never will step foot in a regular casino or bookie.
And with more and more games with "loot boxes" and all other similar things (console games AND mobile ones - Zynga is a HUGE culprit for this for mobile games at making you gamble to progress etc - look for a game called Empires and Puzzles - PURE gambling). it's so much easier for people to access gambling, so "real" casinos and bookies may stop existing, but online, they never will. Here in the UK, gambling is actually very big, Horses, Football, to name 2 big things that have multiple events each year and draw in huge crowds and money.
Due to how easy it is these days, I am confident there are so many people out there addicted who don't even know. Even people playing the lottery each week because "I must play this week it's my week"..
So yeah, online gambling will always exist and that will not go away - and the motto is retarded "when the fun stops, stop" - no shit sherlock, but I am addicted, I'm not in it for the fun, doh! lol
(This is also a reason why when I am tipping a model, i try not to spend all my tokens in one night/day/show, I tip some to my alt account so I can save it, otherwise, I get into that similar kind of feeling with having the money/tokens - i know it's not the same, but it's hard to explain, unfortunately)