BetMGM on Tuesday (Aug. 26) unveiled a refreshed brand identity playing up the combination of gaming and entertainment that the sports-betting platform’s partnership with MGM casinos provides, per details shared with Marketing Dive. The Las Vegas glitz of an accompanying campaign isn’t just for show: Over 40% of BetMGM’s players visit the city on an annualized basis, according to the company’s chief marketer.
“We see this as a chance to have a significant evolution in the brand strategy,” said CMO Casey Hurbis. “In the marketplace, there’s a lot of noise, a lot of operators, and this is a chance to move beyond odds and promos and position ourselves with premium entertainment.”
The brand refresh comes to life in “Make it Legendary,” a campaign that dramatizes BetMGM’s value propositions through a series of TV spots. In one 30-second ad, titled “Legendary Photo,” a trio of people forced into a dive bar by a freak hailstorm turn their night around with a parlay placed on the BetMGM app.
The ad features new brand ambassador Jon Hamm, who brings the gravitas of Don Draper to the proceeding and joins a list of BetMGM partners that has included Hollywood stars like Jamie Foxx and sports legends including Derek Jeter, Barry Sanders and Wayne Gretzky.
“We looked at a whole wide range of potential partners, and Jon is just the perfect choice,” Hurbis said. “He embodies sophistication, he’s witty, he’s got the spirit of storytelling and he’s a huge sports fan… he was a natural fit.”
New model year
The campaign, which includes six commercials in total, will debut its first spot on Aug. 30 during college football, with additional ads rolling out across TV, social, digital, out-of-home and BetMGM properties. Hurbis, who spent years working in automotive marketing on both the brand and agency side, compares the football season to the “new model year” for the gambling space.
“It’s the perfect time to reveal a repositioning,” the executive said. “This isn’t just a sportsbook. Our partnership with Jon Hamm is going to extend into iGaming, responsible gambling and hosting our VIPs as well. This is going to be all-encompassing.”
The brand refresh and campaign were informed by extensive customer research and made with creative agency of record Highdive. During his tenure as CMO at Rocket Mortgage, Hurbis worked with Highdive on three Super Bowl campaigns.
“We didn’t just create ads — we built a creative platform that gives BetMGM a long-term advantage,” said Mark Gross, co-founder and co-chief creative officer at Highdive, in a statement. “This is about storytelling, connection and creating a brand that truly speaks to today’s players, not at them.”
Aside from the increasing importance of football season for marketers of all stripes, the brand refresh comes at a crucial moment for the company. BetMGM saw strong net revenue growth in both Q2 2025 (up 36% year over year) and the first half of the year (up 35%). The company upgraded its net revenue guidance and expects at least $2.7 billion in revenue in the fiscal year. However, it still lags behind market leaders DraftKings and FanDuel with just a single-digit share of the sports-betting market, per Casino Reports data.
