Sarah Koenig

The company would then use that information to tell them exactly what kinds of perks and rewards would keep certain gamblers coming back, and at exactly what juncture to offer those perks and rewards.

I couldn't find a Harrah's host to talk to me in detail about the job, but I did talk to one former casino host in Iowa.

He worked at the Isle of Capri Riverboat for nine years.

He told me he was responsible for a list of about 800 to 1,000 players at any given time, and around half of those he knew personally.

Every day, he was supposed to call at least 25 people on his list.

For each player, the casino assigned a dollar figure, which was how much a player should theoretically make the casino during each visit.

The host's job is to push up these numbers by getting players to visit the casino more often and, once there, to stay longer.

These numbers drive everything, this host said, the comps that players get and the host's quarterly bonuses.

So as Bachman played more, and her bets got bigger, so did her comps.

She talks about all the luxuries you've maybe seen in the movies.

First-class plane tickets or trips on chartered planes, free meals, a five-bedroom suite at the Palazzo in Vegas for her and her family and her friends, with a hot tub off every bedroom, limos, free champagne, clothing, special golf trips for her husband.

In Lake Tahoe, the casino gave her and her family front row tickets to an Eagles concert and also put them on the same hotel floor as the band.

They gave her a room with a grand piano and a butler.

Anything she asked for, she got.

Like real jewelry?

Are we talking like gems?

Bachman says at first she was excited by the phone calls she got from hosts.

These friendly people sending her off for free to all these places she'd never been.

Later, she says she came to dread the calls.

She says one time when she was back home, despondent after a big loss, a casino host called her and persuaded her to return to the blackjack table, saying, you'll win it back.