Sometimes. The only real difference is earnings. There was the rumor that a saudi prince kept a couple mobile games alive solely based on his own spending for a while. Anecdotally I know of at least one person making six figures who was spending five figures a month on mobile games (and eventually declared bankruptcy) and another spending a grand a month that fit it into his budget. The point remains, games designed to extract thousands from individual players have grown very popular among industry execs because it's more profitable (and often easier) to squeeze an inordinate amount out of one player than to get $10 out of 100 players. Marketing for that top 1% spender is definitely exploiting addiction, but they're making it for the ones who will continue to afford it, and thus continue to fund the game

Nope, it's mostly nepo babies just like any other high cost hobby.

The middle class or less well off with gambling addictions are usually reported on so it looks like a regular person problem

no, they are usually well off or come from wealthy family. all these streamers, influencers are often from rich families.