Poker Legend Phil Hellmuth Featured In Online Casino Ad

An online casino advertisement featured one of the most successful tournament players in poker history.

Poker hall of famer and 17-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth was the centerpiece of the latest BetRivers commercial.

The company released the ad yesterday from its BetRivers sportsbook X/Twitter account, and presumably aired in television markets where the BetRivers online casino is available.

The online casino product is only available in Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. However, its sportsbook is available in a dozen other jurisdictions.

The commercial focuses on Hellmuth’s passion for games. The Wisconsin native then promotes the large selection of games on the BetRivers platform while talking to different versions of himself.

“I’m Phil Hellmuth. And games? I love ‘em,” said Hellmuth at the start of the ad. “That’s why I’m all in with BetRivers where there’s games within the games.”

There was a version of Hellmuth in a basketball uniform, one posing as a blackjack dealer, and a third in pajamas, joking that he overslept the shoot.

Get your Phil of fun at https://t.co/gtFBhqzCbO @phil_hellmuth pic.twitter.com/LlQEsfJTrm

— BetRivers Sportsbook (@BetRivers) April 9, 2025

Hellmuth’s Ad Centers Around Slot Machines

Despite Hellmuth’s appeal to the poker world, the company’s online poker platform, available only in Pennsylvania, was not mentioned. The sportsbook arm of the platform wasn’t specifically mentioned either, but prop packs are an add-on to single-game parlay bets.

Instead, every time the ad showed a phone with the platform, it appeared to feature an online slot machine, a game in which customers cannot win over the long term.

In 2022, high-stakes poker pro Landon Tice signed a sponsorship deal with an offshore online casino platform. During one of his Twitch streams, the then-22-year-old promoted the casino’s online slot machine section.

In response, Tice received some blowback from the poker community on social media.

Once again, got flack for it. Nothing unethical about a tweet.

— Landon (@LandonTice) December 2, 2022

BetRivers Leans Into Hellmuth-Centric Marketing

Hellmuth and Rush Street Interactive, the ownership group of BetRivers, agreed to a sponsorship deal at the start of the year. Since then, Hellmuth has been central to every BetRivers marketing campaign.

Last month, Hellmuth and Phil Galfond streamed the “Battle of Phil-adelphia” on the BetRivers online poker platform in Pennsylvania. Hellmuth won the battle after going 2-0 in the $5,000 heads-up freezeouts.

Hellmuth and Galfond’s streams featured BetRivers poker logos in the top right corner. During the stream’s marketing campaign, the BetRivers website featured cartoons of the two pros with the verbiage “Home of VIPs [Very Important Phils].”

The tweet releasing the casino ad also used the Phil pun. “Get your Phil of fun at BetRivers.com,” it read.

Galfond joined the BetRivers team after the company purchased his Run It Once online poker software to use as its own.

Since the Hellmuth deal, Hellmuth has worn a BetRivers hat during televised appearances.

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