5 Questions: Brendan Bussmann
Managing Partner, B Gaming Advisors
There are few figures in the gaming industry as knowledgeable and far-flung as Brendan Bussmann, managing partner of B Global Advisors. From the cornfields of Nebraska to the bright lights of Las Vegas and throughout the world, Bussmann has become one of the pre-eminent consultants on everything from casinos to sports betting, regulation, politics and more. He spoke with GGB’s Jess Marquez remotely in September.
GGB: You’ve had an interesting career path to this point; how did you go from college athletics at Nebraska to gaming?
Brendan Bussmann: I was asked to run a ballot issue back in Nebraska in 2004 to legalize gaming that was backed by Las Vegas Sands. I didn’t know anything about gaming other than losing money at the riverboats over in Council Bluffs. But they said, “We’ll teach you that.” At the end of it, they said, “Do you want to come to Vegas?” Some 22 years later I’m still kicking here and traveling the globe on behalf of this industry.
Once you broke into gaming, what was Las Vegas like at that time? What was Sands like?
Vegas has gone through its iterations over time, but from the mid-2000s up until the Great Recession it was all about building big, massive resorts—the bigger, the better.
You saw MGM and Mirage merge at that point, then MGM Resorts with Mandalay, and you had Caesars go through its iterations. LVS had just gone public back in 2004. The company had an attitude of doing whatever it takes to get the job done and find a way to win. I don’t think I would have ever had that experience at a different time anywhere than what it was at LVS.
What inspired you to branch off into the consulting world?
I like variety, but I also like a challenge. It goes back to the roots at LVS of dealing with Pennsylvania in the morning and Macau in the afternoon, and by the way, Singapore had just come up.
Eventually it wasn’t just about gaming, but let’s look at sports, let’s look at hospitality. Let’s bridge the three passions I had into one, chase some really cool projects and deals, and work with some really cool people in the process.
You’ve seen gaming grow all over the world. What has that been like?
As a kid from Nebraska, being able to travel the globe becomes a pretty unique and special opportunity. As I always jokingly say, I’ve worked on six of the seven continents and at some point I’m either going to get penguins to bet on luge or build an igloo casino.
The global industry: some of it’s still in its infancy, some of it’s well past where things are in the U.S. You have to have an open mind to be able to say, “Hey, this worked in Europe; it’s not going to work in Asia.” The industry’s going to continue to grow and evolve over the course of time. It’s just a matter of how do we embrace it and do what’s right and be good stewards for it for those that have gone before us.
As someone who’s constantly on the go, what travel hacks and tips have you picked up over the years?
A couple of things. One, never check a bag, always go to carry-on. Because sometimes you have to audible along the way and say, “Hey, I gotta go right when I was planning to go left.” I always say I won’t go on a trip if I have to check a bag; I can get one to work for me for about two weeks.
The other thing I would say, and this goes more to the hospitality sense, is even if you’re just staying in one place once, sign up for the rewards program, because you never know when you may come back, you never know when you’re going to need those points. So you need to be agile and have some patience sometimes.
