The news: BetHog, the crypto casino and sportsbook from the FanDuel founding team, has closed a $10M Series A co-led by Will Ventures and RockawayX, bringing total funding to $16M. Alongside the raise, the company launched Sentient Studios—a B2B platform that lets operators deploy AI-powered live dealers on a revenue-share model with no setup fees or minimums.

Zoom in: The centerpiece is Sunny, BetHog’s AI blackjack dealer, now live in 12 languages and already “10X more popular” than its human equivalent. CEO Nigel Eccles tells BettingStartups one part of the user demand came from an unexpected corner: “There’s a large number of people who like the concept of live dealer, but they just find it a little intimidating,” adding that Sunny offers a “more comfortable” alternative. Sentient Studios extends that to any operator, letting them scale AI dealer tables dynamically without studio staffing or supplier contracts.

Why it matters: Traditional live dealer has always carried structural baggage, Eccles pointed out. Fixed studio costs, staffing cycles, and zero flexibility to meet demand spikes. AI dealers help solve that in a material way, and Eccles isn’t shy about where he thinks this ends up: “I feel this will take over the bulk of the live dealer market.”