BetHog to Close Crypto Casino, Focus on AI Dealer Business

BetHog will stop accepting bets and close its crypto casino and sportsbook on July 30 to concentrate exclusively on Sentient Studios, the company’s AI live-dealer business. Customers can place bets and play games until July 30 and have until Aug. 31 to withdraw funds; after that date users must contact customer support directly.

Founder Nigel Eccles said rising operator demand for the AI dealer technology prompted the shift. Sentient Studios launched three months ago alongside a $10 million Series A raise. The company initially planned to run both a consumer-facing crypto casino and a supplier business but decided to focus on selling AI-powered live dealers to online casino operators.

Closing the consumer platform allows BetHog to reassign its full engineering team to Sentient Studios. Eccles wrote: “We can put 100% of our engineering team on AI dealer. That means more and better games, delivered faster.” The company says engineers will concentrate on upgrading existing titles and accelerating new releases.

Work on the AI dealers will focus first on blackjack and baccarat. Planned technical improvements include more natural facial expressions, better lip sync and hand movements, and improved coordination between face and hand animations. The company also plans to expand language support from six languages to 74.

No commercial partnerships have been finalized, although conversations with operators are ongoing and the company expects announcements soon. Eccles declined to give a numerical forecast for operator launches and indicated the company will prioritize strategic partners over signing many operators quickly.

Beyond live dealers, the broader product roadmap includes concepts for AI-powered VIP managers and sportsbook agents. Those products remain on the longer-term agenda while the immediate priority is refining the live dealer product and scaling supplier integrations.

Operations will cease at the end of July, but BetHog will continue to support customer withdrawals through Aug. 31 while transitioning technical and development staff to the AI supplier business.