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Personally, I would agree with the idea that the Bible proscribes sex before marriage, but a good many people read it slightly different. The idea is that sex IS marriage - the joining of two fleshes to become one flesh. So, at the end of the day, what the Bible teaches is that (barring divorce and death), you should only have one sexual partner your whole life. So sex before marriage isn't wrong (as long as it's with the person you're going to marry). It may be unwise, but it's not wrong.
On gambling; I don't think there's anything wrong with gambling in moderation. We have regular texas hold 'em games, and I spend less on those than if I spend the night out at the bar. The only complaint anyone should have, I think, is if you're spending more than you can afford to lose.
On the interpretation of scriptural proscription in general; if you hold to the standard Christian view, that the Bible is divinely inspired (whatever you might happen to mean by that), I think it's important not to just write off proscriptions as "what a patriarchal tribe thought 2000+ years ago". My general rule of thumb is that, if something proscribed in the Bible seems perfectly alright to me, I try to think about what the general principle behind it would be. For example, there are certain passages in the NT about what a woman should wear. It's clear to me that these don't really apply, but the general principle behind them, that one should not dress in an ostentatious manner, still does.
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"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."
"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
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