Same way sounds can make someone an irresponsible gambler if they don't caution themselves. The Slot machine has lots of sounds that can get stuck in your mind especially the sound it makes when you win.
Quite an interesting theory right here and I'm very interested to see how true this can be. From the top of my head I can relate to how this study can be effective but since the experiment wasn't conducted where I could verify their claims I mightn't fully believe it.
I know that our brains associate certain things with sound that if it gets used to hearing the sound of slot machine or other sounds relating to gambling, it starts developing an addiction towards it. But is that all it takes to become an irresponsible gambler? Being irresponsible is a decision we make either consciously or unconsciously so it doesn't need you to be hearing a particular sounds for you to go down that path.
Let us stop making excuses for every wrong decisions in our life that we take.