CreateFuture Expands iGaming AI Consulting Team

CreateFuture is expanding its iGaming AI consulting practice with the appointment of Eddie Bennett as Director of Lottery and iGaming and Andy Wright as Strategic Advisor.

The appointments come as betting and gaming operators increasingly shift their AI priorities from experimentation toward implementation, data governance, regulatory evidence and measurable business outcomes.

Both executives join CreateFuture’s iGaming practice under Hass Peymani, Industry Director of iGaming, bringing extensive operator-side experience to the consultancy’s work with betting and gaming businesses.

Eddie Bennett brings 20 years of operator-side experience across Allwyn, UK Tote Group, BoyleSports, Sky Bet and Lottoland, covering lottery, pool betting, retail and online operations.

At CreateFuture, his role focuses on the commercial side of AI deployment, including building business cases, defining what should be measured and establishing the audit trail required before AI models move into live regulated environments.

“I have sat on the other side of this table. A model that performs in a test is not the same thing as a model a regulator will let you run. That takes a business case, an operating model and an audit trail.” - Eddie Bennett, Director of Lottery and iGaming, CreateFuture

His appointment also strengthens CreateFuture’s lottery capabilities as operators across the sector work to consolidate data and build technology foundations capable of supporting production AI.

Andy Wright brings 27 years of experience as a chief executive and senior operator across betting, gaming and regulated consumer businesses.

His career includes leadership during FDJ United’s acquisition of Kindred Group and the Tabcorp–Tatts merger. At Ladbrokes, he also took an automated trading platform into live operation across five markets.

“Boards rarely struggle to approve the first investment. They struggle to explain the second when the first never reached the floor.” — Andy Wright, Strategic Advisor, CreateFuture

CreateFuture’s appointments reflect a wider change in how iGaming companies are approaching AI.

The challenge is increasingly not whether operators can access AI models, but whether their data infrastructure, operating processes and governance systems are ready to support them.

This issue is also emerging across the broader consulting market. Deloitte Malta’s collaboration with Fieldstream is focused on helping iGaming operators connect AI-powered analytics with commercial decision-making and measurable value.

John Debattista, Deloitte Malta’s Gaming Sector Leader, said:

“By combining Deloitte’s AI-driven transformation expertise with Fieldstream’s value-focused intelligence, we can help clients move from spend-led growth to value-led decision-making.”

For operators, the emphasis is similarly shifting toward measurable results.

Alina Uronich, Chief Executive Officer of Stay Group, has argued that AI adoption needs to begin with a clearly defined business problem and measurable outcome.

“AI only becomes real in iGaming when it reduces cost, lifts the efficiency of a specific department, or moves an operational KPI in a measurable way.”

CreateFuture’s expansion comes at a point when iGaming companies are moving beyond AI pilots and confronting the harder work of production deployment.

Fragmented data estates, regulatory requirements, operational change and return-on-investment pressures are making industry expertise increasingly important.

The appointments of Bennett and Wright therefore extend beyond adding senior talent. They strengthen CreateFuture’s ability to connect AI engineering with operator experience, commercial requirements and regulatory realities.

For the iGaming consulting market, the direction is increasingly clear: the next phase of AI adoption will be measured less by the number of pilots launched and more by the number of solutions that successfully reach production and deliver measurable business value.