05-22-2026 
While I was reading the Teranode Group’s Agentic AI report last week, it got me thinking… how will agentic AI transform the way we do things in the iGaming space?
- How will agentic AI revolutionize the iGaming landscape?
- Introducing Imran Bukhari, Founder and CEO of NE Group
- What differentiates Bluestuff from other agentic iGaming solutions?
- Who stands to gain the most from AI-driven agents?
- Exploring untapped opportunities in agentic AI for iGaming
Turns out one of the best working examples was sitting right in front of me, thanks to fellow NEXT Focus: Crypto advisory board member Stefan Kovach, who recommended Imran Bukhari as a speaker.
Bukhari is the Founder and CEO of NE Group, parent company of Bluestuff.io, the first agentic AI operating system for iGaming. We’re talking a ground-up system where 13 specialized AI agents can build, run, and scale a fully compliant online gambling website. The AI agents handle all layers, from brand creation to user interface and design, frontend development, quality assurance (QA), customer service (CS), search engine optimization (SEO), and paid acquisition… you name it, they can do it.
“When an operator comes to us, we handle everything—the platform, the back office, the CMS, the front end, the deployments. They don’t need to think about infrastructure. They tell us what brand they want to build, and our agents take it from there,” Bukhari shared with me during a call we had last week.
“Within minutes, you’ve got a live staging environment—your brand, your front end, your back office, all configured. You can start making changes to it straight away. That’s not a demo. That’s your actual site,” he said.
Bukhari, who worked for iGaming giant Bet365 for seven years and then started his own B2B iGaming business in 2019, has extensive experience in leading with a customer focus and scaling online gambling operations, especially in Africa.
“Over time, operators kept asking us to do more—so we built the full platform. Today we’re GLI certified, connected with seven gaming boards across Africa, integrated with payment networks in 12 countries. Africa is where we built our foundation,” he explained.
“We’ve been running our platform in production across African markets for years. About nine months ago, we looked at what was happening with AI and realized we could build an entirely new layer on top—a coordinated system of AI agents that handles everything an operator needs. That’s what became Bluestuff.”
“Crypto is a huge focus for us right now, especially combined with AI—the speed and flexibility crypto operators need is exactly what the agentic model delivers,” Bukhari added.
The timing could not be better, as Bukhari is set to speak at the NEXT Focus: Crypto event on May 26 on the “Crypto x AI: Rebuilding the iGaming Stack” panel, where he will discuss Bluestuff and how agentic AI is transforming iGaming as we know it.
“Basically, it opens up the flexibility for the operators to actually take control of their entire front end and make their product unique,” Bukhari explained. “There hasn’t been innovation in sportsbooks for years. All sportsbooks look the same. I don’t think it will remain like that anymore. You’re going to see a lot of innovations coming on everything.”
“Right now, the barriers are too much, right? You need a license, you need a bankroll partner, or you need a lot of money, then you need a service provider with long contracts, a lot of cost, hosting, content providers, a lot of stuff comes. All that we take care of,” he revealed.
According to Bukhari, three things set Bluestuff apart from anything else “agentic” in the iGaming market. His system features agents that actually do the work (not just assist), work together (they are not individual agents), and operate within a proven enterprise platform
“Anyone can build an AI agent—the market is flooded with them. The reason most produce toy output is that they’ve got no real platform underneath. Our agents sit on enterprise infrastructure with real APIs, real player data, and real compliance workflows. That’s why what they produce actually goes live, not into a demo folder,” he clarified.
So, who can benefit the most from the work these agents can do? Let’s start with crypto casinos that are multiplying exponentially by the hour. How can a brand stand out?
“You want new content, more changes. You just need more developers, resources, make changes, and do deployments. Keep on improving. That requires money. That requires time. It’s the same old cycle. What we are offering changes everything,” Bukhari said.
“Think of what you save—the time, the cost, the headcount. Your focus goes back to your product vision, not the execution,” he pointed out.
For a crypto casino—or any casino brand for that matter—that has a desire to go all-in on-chain but does not know where to start, the process is about to become a whole lot easier thanks to Bluestuff.
“The Web3, ‘completely on a blockchain’ casino is literally that kind of an idea. I’m saying so many people have that in mind, but how do we create that? Question is, who wants to spend so much time, to build something, to iterate? So, we took that challenge, and we are working on it right now,” Bukhari revealed.
The possibilities with Bluestuff are not limited to crypto casinos, of course. In general, new operators can launch an entire iGaming operation with AI agents; there is no need to hire a full brand, design, development, QA, CS, SEO, and marketing team. More established operators can start their AI journey by augmenting specific functions, such as CS, and expanding AI agents across the operation over time.
“We recently deployed our CS Agent with a major operator—it now handles 80% of all customer service queries autonomously. Deposits, withdrawals, forgot PIN, dispute resolution, all in natural language in the player’s own language. They’ve reduced their human CS headcount per shift, and it handles peak loads that used to overwhelm the team,” Bukhari shared.
Another untapped opportunity is the content creator economy, according to Bukhari, including influencers, affiliates, streamers, and others.
“We think the creator economy is a huge opportunity. Imagine a streamer who wants their own branded casino—we handle the licensing, the bankroll, the risk management, the compliance, everything behind the scenes. They focus on their audience, we make sure the operation is fully licensed and properly run,” he said.
“Right now, all the content creators, streamers, influencers, affiliates, all they get is an affiliate fee from the traffic they send to the operators. We allow with the solution that we have, because it’s fast, because it is super light, not cost-heavy, and we can actually help you from license to bankroll, to risk management, to sports content, to casino content, everything ready, high-level quality for everything you need,” Bukhari added.
Now, let’s go back to my original question: How will agentic AI transform the way we do things in the iGaming space?
Has your opinion changed?
Originally, I was thinking along the lines of agents placing bets for players. Agents will handle CS chat boxes. I was not thinking big before talking with Bukhari, but now I am.
Thanks to agentic AI, things in iGaming won’t look the same. The ease and speed to market now possible allow for more time spent in ideation, opening up a world of innovation where the sky really is the limit.
Please join us in Malta for the Crypto focus event on the 26th (use CoinGeek10 for a 10% discount on your ticket) to continue the discussion, and we also hope to see you at NEXT Valetta on May 27 and 28!
In order for artificial intelligence (AI) to work right within the law and thrive in the face of growing challenges, it needs to integrate an enterprise blockchain system that ensures data input quality and ownership—allowing it to keep data safe while also guaranteeing the immutability of data. Check out CoinGeek’s coverage on this emerging tech to learn more why Enterprise blockchain will be the backbone of AI.
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