Bobby Soper: Traditions & Values: Unpacking a Career in the Gaming Industry

What this episode covers

Bobby Soper currently serves as the International President of Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, where he oversees and directs all aspects of the company’s efforts for Mohegan’s global assets. As President & CEO of Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, one of the world’s largest and most successful integrated resort destinations, he took the helm at a time of declining revenues and EBITDA and was able to implement major changes to turn the business around. Bobby also successfully led the effort to procure an Integrated Resort License in Korea among a global field of 34 applicants and used it to build a $5 billion resort at Incheon Airport. In 2017, Bobby branched out from his role at MGE to launch Sun Gaming & Hospitality (SG&H), which advises resort operators, investors, regulatory bodies, private equity funds, banks, and developers in every area of resort finance, development, and operations for large-scale projects and online initiatives. This Episode’s Heavy-hitters: - Bobby is actually a member of the Mohegan Tribe himself, and he took his first casino job per his family and provided legal services before rising the ranks to CEO. - One of the most important lessons Bobby learned early on from the culture of the Mohegan Tribe was to build strong relationships across sectors. This has helped Bobby grow in business and life. - Bobby once saw a guest bankroll under $500 into over a million dollars within 72 hours, only to resolve much lower and lose it all. The moral of the story– know when to call it a day. - According to Bobby, deals are always done on the basis of relationships. You can have the best business plan, positioning, and team in place, but if you don’t have the relationships to make it happen, or the means to acquire them, it all means nothing. - Part of the reason that Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut was able to survive better than others during the pandemic was because most of the clients are within driving distance, so they were able to implement health and safety precautions to make guests feel comfortable returning. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/thepozcast #thePOZcast is brought to you by our friends at Interseller – the prospecting + outreach platform of recruiters and sellers. Whether you’re doubling down on business development or recruiting talent, Interseller does all the heavy lifting of finding contact data, automating the email and follow-up process, and syncs all that rich data into 20+ CRMs and ATSs. Reach out and get going in a 2-week *free* trial today and let them know you heard about them from Adam on #thePOZcast. Check out a free demo today! https://bit.ly/2Fbm/BZ For more, please visit www.thePOZcast.com Thanks for listening!