Yeah gambling can actually have a disastrous impact on a student's life, both academically and socially.
When a person becomes too used to gambling and suddenly develops the inability to control their emotions when gambling, then addiction sets it, and gambling addiction comes with a lot of things, from financial problems to mental health problems and then social problems and so many more, and if a student (regardless the age or level of education) starts to develop these symptoms, then it will definitely become veey harmful for them because they won't be mentally balanced to be able to do on the academic activities.
This happens only in some parallel universe. Among millions of students how many are really gambling addicted? Several thousands? That is nothing in matter of statistics. Students are busy doing all kind of stuff, and I doubt that many focus so much on gambling, that it has a significant impact on their study and grades. As you make an imaginary chain of what can happen in future gambling>addicted gambling>bad grades>expelled>low paid work>no future>health problem, then there is no use to go out from the house at at all because, for example, you can get hit by car, robbed, object can fall on the head and etc.
Leave students alone. That is their first experience of grown-up life. Let them have their own experience, bad and good. Let them do their own mistakes and solve them. Otherwise we will have army of «mama’s boys» .
Well, I was a university student when I started gambling, the truth is it was very Exciting, yes it can be like an addiction, but you have to know how to treat things, when they are underage students things change, now they can't. It is taken the Same because the game is always a great temptation , minors are something else, it is something that is not allowed to enter or anything like that, that is something that already escapes the normal parameters, but in another since being a student You can take advantage of everything, of course that's how I see Things, it's much better when you learn to have control, whether you are a student or not, because it is an indication of the type of Professional you will be in the face of any adversity.