No, not even then. You shouldn't play games other people arrange in any way, except ie educationally, or for the pleasure of winning and nothing else. Not with money.

Prizes for challenges, maybe. Chess tournaments with a buy-in, that I respect because no luck involved, meaning no tipping the scales no cheating.

So the problem in gambling is when you just lost a big bet of money you didn't need and the only way to recover is putting up a tiny bit of money you do need. By nature gambling--and by the way it's sold--is designed to fuck with that fine line.