The truth is that we gamble every day of our lives. If we drive to work then we risk dying in a traffic accident, and so on. We need probability to make rational decisions in the face of uncertainty. But we don’t hand out mortality tables to our students. Instead, we use games with cards and dice as metaphors.

Source: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence.html
(you’ve probably seen this already, being a TED fan yourself)

So we do use more than one part of our brain at a given moment. A study of the mistakes of others and a knowledge of our own faults and tendencies can and does enable us to overcome biological determinism.

So I honestly belive that if someone:

A) Truly understands the workings (and the futility) of gambling,

B) understands that there is no such thing as luck (in the “personal mojo” meaning of the word), and

C) is aware of the psychology of gambling and the human fallibility regarding it…

… then that someone will not become addicted to gambling. Assuming a person of relatively sound mind with no major mental defects or insanity.

So I think the prime reason for the widespread problem of gambling is ignorance and quasi-religious belief in “personal lucky mojo”.