Michael Anthony Griffin Sr. is the CEO of National Business Center, Inc. and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Vegas-Style Skill Games and Blue Bull Gaming, all based in Knightdale, North Carolina. He has held the CEO role since March 2018 and oversees operations and strategic development across three gaming entities. Griffin grew up in Hobgood, North Carolina, one of twelve children, and played baseball and football in high school before pursuing a professional baseball tryout that did not pan out. He entered the workforce through the customer service industry and spent more than a decade building practical knowledge before crossing into gaming operations. He started as a participant in the gaming space and worked his way into understanding the business from the inside, eventually taking on leadership responsibility at National Business Center, Inc. His tenure as CEO has included the creation of the Vegas-Style Rewards program, the buildout of the Vegas-Style online casino, and continued development of the Blue Bull Gaming brand. He led the company through the disruptions of the COVID-19 period in 2019 and 2020. Griffin has spoken publicly about responsible growth practices and has called for clearer standards in the skill-based gaming industry. Outside of work, he is an avid golfer and country club member, and still follows baseball and basketball closely.
Q&A with Michael Griffin
How do you define success?
For me, success is not a number. It is being able to look at what you built and know it works. When National Business Center can run its operations, serve its customers, and stay on solid ground at the same time, that is what success feels like. It is not one big moment. It is a lot of small things done right every day. I also think success has to include growth that you can actually sustain. Building fast is one thing. Building something that holds is another. I have always been more interested in the second.
Was there a turning point where your definition of success changed?
When I took the CEO role in 2018, I realized quickly that the way I had thought about success as a player in this industry was completely different from what it meant as the person running the operation. As a participant, you are thinking about your own experience. As an operator, you are responsible for everyone’s experience, and for everything that makes that experience possible. That shift changed how I measured things. I stopped thinking about wins and started thinking about infrastructure.
What has been the hardest part of building this business?
The pandemic period was the hardest stretch. We were still building when the world stopped. Every assumption about how people would engage with gaming, how the industry would function, what growth looked like, all of it had to be reconsidered at the same time. What we did was keep working on the things we could control. We built the Vegas-Style Rewards program during that time. We continued development on the online casino side. I think going through that period without losing the thread of what we were building was the most important test the company has had so far.
How do you stay disciplined when growth is slow?
I go back to what I know. I was in customer service for a long time before I got into this industry at the level I am at now. That background teaches you patience in a way that a lot of business education does not. When you have spent years dealing directly with what people need, you learn that most problems are not complicated. They just require consistent attention. When growth slows, I focus on the parts of the operation that I know I can improve. That keeps momentum going even when the numbers are not where you want them.
What habits have been most important to your development as a CEO?
Paying attention to detail in the early stages. I started in this industry as a player, which means I noticed everything about how the experience was designed, where it worked, where it did not. When I moved into operations, I brought that attention with me. A lot of people in leadership stop noticing the details once they get far enough up. I have tried not to do that. I also try to stay close to the decisions that matter. As chairman across three entities, it would be easy to delegate too much and lose the thread of what is actually happening. I do not do that.
What trade-offs have you had to make?
Speed versus stability. Every decision about how fast to grow is also a decision about how much risk you are carrying. I have been conservative about expansion because I think the skill-based gaming industry is still developing, and moving ahead of that development can put you in a difficult position.Some people would say I should have moved faster. But I would rather have a business that works than a business that grew quickly and then had to be rebuilt. The trade-off is worth it to me.
What does long-term success look like for National Business Center?
National Business Center having a recognized, trusted presence in the North Carolina gaming market. Vegas-Style and Blue Bull having customer bases that come back because the experience is consistent and reliable. And the company being structured well enough that it can adapt as the industry and the regulatory environment continue to change. I am not trying to build the biggest gaming company. I am trying to build a good one. That is what long-term looks like to me.
What would you tell someone starting out in an industry like yours?
Learn the product before you try to sell it. I spent years understanding this industry from the ground up, and every part of that time was useful. The people who struggle are usually the ones who skip that step. They try to lead something they do not actually understand yet. Patience also matters more than most people admit. The gaming sector is not one where things move in a straight line. If you are not comfortable with that, you will find it very hard to build anything durable.