{"id":35691,"date":"2026-04-29T15:20:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/?p=35691"},"modified":"2026-04-29T15:20:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:20:32","slug":"mike-lavin-joins-betmgm-as-a-pro-poker-ambassador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/mike-lavin-joins-betmgm-as-a-pro-poker-ambassador\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Lavin Joins BetMGM as a Pro Poker Ambassador"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BetMGM added online superstar Mike Lavin as a poker pro ambassador this week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mike
Mike Lavin is now a BetMGM ambassador. (Image: WSOP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lavin, who plays as “TonyBandanas,” is a 17-time online World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner with three WSOP bracelets. He also won the BetMGM leaderboard title four times. Not bad for a man who all but quit poker after Black Friday destroyed the online poker industry in America in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He’s won all those titles since returning to the game during the COVID-19 lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Mike is exactly the kind of player we want representing BetMGM,” said David Mileaf, Director of Poker at BetMGM. “He built his game on our platform and won our leaderboards. His story proves what’s possible for any player willing to put in the work online.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lavin will become the face of its online poker room, which is available in New Jersey, Nevada, Michigan, and Laqvin’s home state of Pennsylvania. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While most of his success comes online, Lavin is starting to make his mark in live events. His biggest cash came by winning the WSOP $1,500\u00a0Shootout for $267,000 and a bracelet in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now a company man, Lavin sounded like one when explaining while he joined forces with BetMGM. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat attracted me to BetMGM was simple \u2013 they listen to the players. Before I had any affiliation with the company, I saw how the poker team engaged with the community in a way no other platform does. I\u2019m proud to officially represent a team I believe in and that cares about its players.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lavin will surely be at the ARIA during the WSOP for the BetMGM Poker Championship<\/a> in late June. The $3,500 tournament, which players are already qualifying for online, starts June 29. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BetMGM added online superstar Mike Lavin as a poker pro ambassador this week. Lavin, who plays as “TonyBandanas,” is a 17-time online World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner with three WSOP bracelets. He also won the BetMGM leaderboard title four times. Not bad for a man who all but quit poker after Black Friday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":35693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[497,527,529,7421,499,7415,501,523],"tags":[577],"vertical":[],"class_list":["post-35691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-poker-business","category-buzz","category-poker-buzz","category-poker","category-poker-news","category-poker-tournaments","category-wsop-news","tag-poker"],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":35691},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Michael-Lavin_BetMGM-1-1-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.casino.us\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Michael-Lavin_BetMGM-1-1-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Bob Pajich","author_link":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/author\/bob-pajich\/"},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35691"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.casino.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=35691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}