FACTS: Responsible for the bulk of a casinos profits, slot machines are deliberately programmed to keep players at the machine longer, losing more money, and often losing track of time. Every year the technology employed by slot machine manufacturers becomes more insidious and powerful, affecting the brain in ways that are not unlike a narcotic. Some neuroscientists refer to modern slot machines as the crack cocaine of gambling. Gambling addiction that once took a decade or more to develop now occurs very quickly behind the slots.