With Fresh Funding BetHog Takes Its AI Casino Dealers Beyond Its Own Platform

Crypto casino BetHog has raised $10 million in Series A financing to scale its proprietary AI live casino dealer tech beyond its own site, turning the feature into a B2B product called Sentient Studios.

The round was co-led by sports and entertainment VC Will Ventures and digital asset investment firm RockawayX, with participation from PCV, 6MV, Bullpen Capital, and Advancit Capital. BetHog says the raise brings total funding to $16 million.

$10M to turn an in-house AI dealer into a global B2B product

BetHog says the new capital will be used in two directions - expanding AI dealer capabilities on its consumer platform and accelerating adoption of Sentient Studios among online casino operators worldwide.

Sentient Studios is positioned as a software-driven alternative to the traditional live dealer supply model, where operators typically depend on third-party studios for dealers, tables, and broadcast capacity. BetHog’s pitch is that AI-based dealing can give operators more control over how live tables look, feel, and scale - without being constrained by staffing, studio schedules, or limited table inventory.

A revenue-share model designed to lower the barrier to testing

BetHog says Sentient Studios runs on a pure revenue-share model with no setup fees, monthly minimums, or fixed-term contracts. The company frames that structure as a faster on-ramp for operators that want to pilot AI-hosted tables, measure player response, then expand without renegotiating infrastructure or committing to long contracts.

The operator-facing promise is straightforward - test quickly, launch quickly, and scale table availability based on demand rather than dealer rosters.

BetHog says its AI blackjack dealer is “10X more popular” than the human equivalent

BetHog Co-Founder and CEO Nigel Eccles said the company’s early results point to a meaningful player preference shift.

“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. In addition, we’ve seen better retention and player satisfaction,” Eccles said.

“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.”

Why operators are paying attention: capacity, localization, and differentiation

Traditional live dealer tables come with real limitations - peak-time capacity can bottleneck, localization requires additional hiring, and unique experiences can be expensive or slow to produce. Sentient Studios is meant to remove those constraints by letting operators:

Scale table availability to meet demand in real time Offer more languages and segment experiences for different player groups Adjust the presentation quickly without tying changes to staffing cycles

BetHog also says the platform supports custom dealer personas and branded environments, giving operators another lever to stand out in a category where many lobbies can feel interchangeable.

From Sunny to Sentient Studios: prototype results turned into a product

This B2B push builds on BetHog’s first AI-powered blackjack dealer, Sunny, introduced in October 2025. BetHog says Sunny is now available in 12 languages and has become one of the most played titles on the platform.

The company plans to expand its AI dealer lineup later this year with baccarat and roulette, signaling that it sees AI hosts as a full table-game suite rather than a single novelty product.

Players who want to see what BetHog’s casino offering looks like today can find more details on the BetHog Casino page, including supported payments like Bitcoin, Visa, and MasterCard, plus its current player promotions.

The bigger picture: AI dealers as “always-on” live tables

BetHog’s argument is that AI dealers can deliver the same core live table loop - cards, bets, pace, and presentation - while adding two things that are difficult to maintain at scale with human-run studios: continuous uptime and personalized interaction.

If the engagement metrics BetHog cites translate across other operators, Sentient Studios could become a practical way for casinos to add table capacity, cover long-tail languages, or run short-window branded experiences without the overhead of staffing and studio coordination.

For now, the funding gives BetHog runway to prove that AI-hosted tables can perform not just as an in-house differentiator, but as a scalable product other operators can deploy quickly - and keep optimizing as player demand shifts.