You put some money in the machine, place a bet of one to five credits, and the computer deals you a poker hand. To understand video poker addiction, you have to start with the deceptively simple appeal of the game. (The machine was just for fun-it didn't pay jackpots.) “He's played more than anyone else in the United States,” says his lawyer, Andrew Leavitt. At his previous haunt, the locals-friendly Boulder Station, he blew half a million dollars in 2006 alone-a pace that earned him enough Player's Club points to pay for his own Game King to play at his home on the outskirts of Vegas, along with technicians to service it. Since the Game King had gotten its hooks in him years earlier he'd lost between tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands annually. Kane had discovered the glitch in the Game King three months earlier on the other end of town, at the unpretentious Fremont Hotel and Casino in downtown's Glitter Gulch. Virtuoso pianist John Kane discovered an exploitable software bug in Game King poker machines.

His orders: Make sure John Kane doesn't leave the casino. He contacted the Silverton's head of security, a formidable character with slicked-back silver hair and a black suit, and positioned him outside the slot area. As they watched the replay for clues, Kane chalked up an eighth jackpot worth $8,200, and Williams decided not to wait any longer.

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