BetMGM’s Casey Hurbis: ‘I’m a marketer, I gamble every day’
It might seem odd that Casey Hurbis has found his way into the gambling industry after tenures with Rocket Mortgage and car makers Fiat and Alpha Romeo.
But Hurbis, who appeared Wednesday at the SBC Summit Americas in Fort Lauderdale, sees it as a natural transition.
“I’m a marketer, I gamble every day,” he told moderator Wayne Kimmel, the managing partner of SeventySix Capital, during the panel session, Creating Brand Loyalty with BetMGM Chief Marketing Officer Casey Hurbis.
In his new role as chief marketing officer, Hurbis is charged with keeping BetMGM competitive as it grows in the sports betting sphere. According to Kimmel, there are conditions that make his job easier, notably that 49% of Americans traveled to Las Vegas or went to a casino in 2024.
“So obviously, knock on wood, tourism doesn’t slow down, and that’s part of the secret sauce that we tap into,” Hurbis said, adding his most important job is to protect and grow the BetMGM brand. It is crucial, he said, to grow loyalty and create stickiness for players to keep them from straying to other sites offering sports betting.
It’s also important to remember how quickly the world changes and how new technologies emerge. Hurbis remembers in 1999 when AOL was the biggest website in the world. Then, he told a group of car dealers that one day people would buy cars online. They laughed, but more than a quarter of a century later he’s been proved right with the emergence of sites including Carvana, The Zebra and most dealerships that offer online car buying.
Similarly, he cites the emergence of social media influencers in the gaming industry as a trend that is here to stay. Nationally, BetMGM employs stars including Jamie Foxx, Barry Sanders, Wayne Gretzky and Tim Howard to represent its brand.
But some of the most important influencers and content creators started out as unknown before gaining audiences.
Hurbis had never met Brian Christopher, who helms the BC Slots website, until recently during an appearance in Detroit. At a casino and a Detroit Tigers’ baseball game, Hurbis said people flocked to Christopher as if he was a modern-day pied piper. Poker player and influencer Abby Merk has also proven to be a valuable asset for BetMGM.
“I didn’t follow this kind of until now, but that’s where it’s going,” Hurbis said.
He added, “That is the type of content 86% of adults now cite, influencers, as content influencing the purchase decision. I can’t tell you the last time I went to a restaurant or stayed at a hotel where I wasn’t influenced by someone. That’s the way the world is going now.”
Dig deeper
2025/03/05: Jamie Foxx fronts new BetMGM online casino commercial
2025/03/19: BetMGM to partner with poker player Abby Merk to create content
2025/05/21: Games Global launches Gold Blitz Ultimate with BetMGM
2025/02/03: Monumental Sports Network adds wagering via Play Anywhere and BetMGM partnership
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