Online casinos using exclusively cryptocurrencies will be more prevalent as the industry evolves, according to several gaming heavyweights like the co-founder of FanDuel and current BetHog CEO Nigel Eccles.
Digital Currency
Nigel Eccles knows a thing or two about the mobile gaming industry, as his bona fides speak for themselves. The co-founder of FanDuel, the nation’s No. 1 mobile sportsbook, is now at the helm of a new venture, BetHog, an iCasino that uses exclusively cryptocurrency as its method of financial exchange.
The site is built on the Solana blockchain, with SOL as the support token for its PvP games, while other titles also support betting with Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT. The site is geared toward growing a sector of the market that focuses on communal gaming and interactive social casino games through original content and titles.
“BetHog is a new crypto casino and sportsbook with a focus on building original social casino titles,” Eccles said. “We see an opportunity to build new casino games that are much more interactive and social. A great example of that is Hogger, which lets fans play the game along with their favorite streamer.”
BetHog is licensed and regulated by the island nation of Anjouan, located in the Indian Ocean, and its iGaming titles and digital sportsbook are powered by Pragmatic and Evolution.
Game On
“The crypto casino market has seen dramatic growth over the past few years, driven by innovations like provably fair games, robust VIP programs, and streaming,” said Eccles. “With BetHog, my goal is to innovate even further by bringing unique and highly visual games to market. I want to offer users unique play-along and skill-based titles, combined with a robust VIP offering, but most of all, this is about maximizing fun for our users.”
BetHog will initially be marketed and launched in Latin America and Asia and will not be available in the United States, Ontario, or the majority of Western Europe, including the UK, due to regulatory barriers. Nevertheless, Eccles is hoping to work with regulators in the West and eventually enter the North American and Western European markets.
According to Eccles, BetHog will be fully committed to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) protocols. “One of the great things about crypto is all transactions are public and traceable; we work with a number of partners to enable us to conduct risk-based AML checks,” said Eccles.
Cultivating a New Audience
Eccles believes there is a need to move away from traditional titles and into a realm that sates the gaming appetites of a younger audience. “I think we will see an emergence of new types of games that break with the typical five-reel casino game format,” he said.
The player-versus-player (PvP) platform is something that Eccles believes has considerable growth, and attracting streamers to engage will bring a new generation to the gaming community. The fact that crypto is the financial exchange of choice is in sync with a younger demographic who are familiar with transacting via digital currency.
“In 2024, we saw continued growth in crypto casinos that both brought in new players and took share from Web2 platforms,” he explains. “That [growth] was driven by their embrace of streaming, continued innovation like crash games, and the ease of playing with cryptocurrencies. I think we will see those three trends continue into 2025,” Eccles added.
