Probably the emotions, it's really like the ones who enjoy MMORPGs or different types of games. Online or not. At the end, human beings should be rational beings but we are emotional beings at the end and that is the raw uncomfortable truth.
I personally believe that hurting animals in any possible way it's wrong and more not so positive terms. Those are creatures that naturally balance the ecosystem when speaking about most of them and if humans didn't exist in the world at all, the world would be balanced completely, it's up to us to learn from nature, how to balance progress with nature. That is a lot more harder than innovation alone.
And fathers teach their kids what they like to see if their kids like it too so they have something in common, which is respectable if they don't try to force the kids, that will make it extremely uncomfortable for them. I knew a lot of fathers playing online games who showed it to their kids and they were playing it too because they ended up liking it and that way they have something in common to spend time and talk about.
Emotions are why all these market bubbles play out the same, humans can be very irrational and be heavily persuaded by fear and greed.
Humans evolved with strong adrenaline responses from natural living and it is something most of us lack in the modern world so perhaps gambling fills that void.