BetHog Announces $10 Million Funding Round, Launch Of AI Live Dealer Studio

Crypto casino BetHog announced Wednesday morning both a new $10 million funding round and where that funding will primarily be going: toward the launch of Sentient Studios, a new provider of AI-powered live dealers.

The Series A financial round is led by Will Ventures and Rockaway X, and included participation from PCV, 6MV, Bullpen Capital, and Advancit Capital. Many of those investors are among the group that initially combined for $6 million in seed funding ahead of the 2024 launch of BetHog, a cryptocurrency online casino and sportsbook that is the brainchild of FanDuel co-founders Nigel Eccles and Rob Jones.

BetHog says it plans to use the additional capital to continue to improve and expand its AI live dealer technology and work to provide more global operators with the Sentient Studios games.

“We’ve tested our basic AI dealer over the past six months and have discovered that it is 10X more popular than its live dealer equivalent,” Eccles said in a release. “In addition, we’ve seen better retention and player satisfaction.

“With Sentient Labs, we’re excited to bring this product to other online casinos where operators can launch and scale their own dealer experiences instantly, operate continuously, and create more personalized interactions for players.”

Human interaction, minus the humans

Live-dealer is a popular vertical in both regulated and unregulated markets, using interactive video and audio feeds of dealers of such games as blackjack and roulette operating out of a physical studio.

BetHog believes using AI live dealers, such as its initial blackjack dealer “Sunny,” is both more cost effective for operators and more adaptable for players — including the ability to program the dealer to speak in any of 12 languages.

Wednesday’s release says the Sentient Studios platform “also enables a new level of customization, allowing operators to create unique dealer personas, branded environments, and premium experiences that are fully owned within their product, rather than shared across a broader supplier ecosystem.”

BetHog’s AI dealer is only available for blackjack at this time, but the plan is to expand later in 2026 to include roulette and baccarat.

Sentient Studios plans to partner with operators on a revenue-share model, where there are no start-up fees or fixed costs associated with using the AI dealer products.

BetHog’s sportsbook and casino are licensed and regulated in some international jurisdictions but are not currently available in the U.S. Players can deposit using any of 10 different cryptocurrencies.