Forty Under 40: Britta Erickson

If you think working at a casino sounds fun, Britta Erickson says you’re right.

“We’re the kids who get to draw and paint for a living,” she said. “Our job is to create fun.

“If you can’t have fun doing this, you probably should be in a lab or something.”

Erickson grew up outside Reno, Nev., but attended LSU on an academic scholarship and earned a degree in mass communications. She did a couple of internships on political campaigns along the way before going to work for an ad agency in Las Vegas.

Casinos were among her clients, and she worked for one in New York before joining the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino near Tulsa in 2008. She’s been at the Cherokee for 2 ½ years, and has been instrumental in opening and expanding its high-limit, poker and off-track betting rooms.

“I’m either busy or figuring out how to get people in the property and get busy,” Erickson said.

Erickson said one of the keys to her success, and enjoying her work, is a lesson one of her earliest bosses taught her in Las Vegas.

“At no point do you get so good that you don’t need help,” she said.

Erickson likes to travel when possible, hike and read.

Some of her family members have settled in Oklahoma, and after moving early and often in her career, Erickson said she’s currently happy “being someplace I can be more settled.”