It’s not unusual for L.J. Rojales to receive excited texts and pictures of cruises and Hawaiian vacations to his phone. But he’s not a neighbor or relative of the senders, he’s their casino host.

Casino hosts work primarily with a property’s higher level players, aiming to build relationships with those players in a bid to get them to become regulars who return frequently. Larger properties in Southern California employ anywhere from a dozen to more than 20 hosts.