I have a close friend that I think has a gambling problem. As he has been borrowing money from me, and I have obtained proof that he has not used the money for the purpose that he claimed.

I suspect that he has caught the gambling “virus” from his mother. As the mother is known among the wider family of being a regular visitor to the Sky City Casino. And the mother has been granted access to the VIP / Premium area of the Casino. No one in the family wants to challenge the mother about her gambling. As She has major chronic health problems that mean She could die at any time. But also could still be alive in 10 years time. And since she is on the benefit and lives in a state house (no real asset's). She is limited in how much damage her gambling could do anyway. So the family just let her be.

However my friend is in the early stages of what would be a very well paying career. Which will also involve access to and managing large sums of money. So if he does have a gambling problem, things will get very ugly.

Question - My friend also has access to the VIP area. But he claims that he only gets access due to his mum having access, claims that VIP members can bring in 1 non member. Is that true? Or do the Casino only grant access if you are regularly gambling large amounts of money? If the latter, that would imply that they have a logging system for how much each person gambles. And is there a way to access that data? Or is just having VIP access definitive proof that someone gambles lots of money?

2nd Question - Does anyone have experience on how to approach talking to and helping someone with a gambling problem? As although me and some other family members are very suspicious. There is a chance that he might only be socially gambling only small amounts of money infrequently. What should I do if he denies that he has a gambling problem?