This is probably the scariest thing about gambling and the supersticions associated with it: the mentality.

I remember that my dad told me that I had given my friends luck and that that luck would never come back to me.

Your list of memories are shared by most of us. All those registers were common in the venezuela of the 1970s and 80. New fashions substituted some of the old traditions but the mentality remains.
I have gambled once in a while, out of sheer boredom, fully aware of how unlikely it would be for me to win and how addictive this thing can be.
I know of many people who were driven to bankruptcy because of gambling, so I'd rather stay away from it (not that I have much to lose anyway).
Somewhere I read or heard that we should only gamble what we can afford to lose (without being disturbed).