Gambling was socially approved because the state sponsored it. It was omnipresent because the state could afford the advertising. It became a part of the social landscape. And it added nothing constructive to that landscape. States sponsor gambling mainly because they cannot find what they consider to be sufficient funds for their programs through traditional sources of revenue, mainly taxes.
Governments exist to serve the common good.
Sponsoring gambling does not do so. It offers state support to the lie that one can get something for nothing in this life. It preys on those with the least hope and, it turns out, the least money. And so on, into bankruptcy and ruin. Gambling is a ticket to the dark side of American society.