FanDuel founders launch crypto casino and sportsbook BetHog with $6 million seed round

From theblock by Jason Shubnell

A new cryptocurrency casino and sportsbook from the founders of FanDuel has gone live.

BetHog launched Tuesday with $6 million in seed funding led by 6MV with participation from Will Ventures, Bullpen Capital, Karatage, Advancit Capital, and several angel investors, including Chris Grove, Partner Emeritus at Eilers & Krejcik, LLC, and Josh Hannah, co-founder of Flutter Entertainment.

The company was founded by tech entrepreneurs Nigel Eccles and Rob Jones, who helped co-found FanDuel in 2009. FanDuel was the U.S. leader in sports betting, with a market share of 42% in 2022. The company generated $3.23 billion in revenue that year.

BetHog has emerged from private alpha with various casino games, including exclusive BetHog Originals and others from popular studios such as Pragmatic and Evolution. The BetHog Originals include innovative variants of crash and mines, and a new approach to player-versus-player, or PvP, games. These games include a first-of-its-kind feature that allows users to play alongside popular streamers.

Some of these games include HODL (Crash for memecoins), Thermonuclear Boars (Mines) and Liar’s Dice.

"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," Eccles said in a press release shared with The Block. "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."

The BetHog casino is built on Solana, with SOL serving as the supporting token for its PvP titles. BetHog will also accept bitcoin, ether and USDT on other titles.

With the first round of funding, BetHog will prioritize investment in product development while scaling the business via strategic partnerships. The company currently has 10 employees.

“We are thrilled to be backing Nigel and the entire team at BetHog on this investment,” said Serge Kassardjian, General Partner at 6MV. “We think they are perfectly positioned to unlock this massive opportunity to build the most innovative online casino and betting platform of this era of crypto. We believe this will bring in a diverse audience of crypto and non-crypto gamers to enjoy this differentiated and fun gambling experience.”