Sarah Koenig

Because a loss is a loss is a loss.

In 2006, Dixon teamed up with Habib to see if they could figure out what was happening to people neurologically when they saw near misses.

They scanned the brains of 22 gamblers, 11 addicted, or what they called pathological gamblers, and 11 non-pathological gamblers, as all these people watched near misses on slot machine displays.

The results surprised them, because while both addicted and non-addicted gamblers said the near misses felt more like wins, their brains said something different.

Here's Reza Habib.

Disturbing, doesn't it?

Yeah, it's crazy.

Habib and Dixon say that casinos know all about the near-miss effect.

And since the 80s, slot machines have been programmed to capitalize on it.

Habib and Dixon said that the near-miss effect happens in all kinds of gambling, including blackjack.

And that it's possible that even just an enticing phone call from a casino host could have fired up Angie Bachman's maladapted brain pathways.

That her brain could have been reacting to the phone calls as it would to a near-miss.

Especially if the message was, come win your money back.

So let's say for a second that Angie Bachman's case went to trial.

And the questions before the jury were, if the casino knew she was addicted, is Caesars really the one responsible?

And was Bachman, as her lawyer contends, quote, incompetent in terms of this act of borrowing money?

Well, what do you believe?

Okay, so if you're on the jury, forget me on the jury, say you're on the jury, what are you going to, how would you decide?

Yeah, but as a juror, we don't care about any of that.

It's just the crime on the table.