Six months after his exit from LeoVegas, Gustaf Hagman has unveiled his latest venture.
The Swede, who founded LeoVegas in 2011, has joined forces with Authentic Gaming Founder Jonas Delin to establish Avanti Studios, a live casino studio that is focused on delivering games presented by “lifelike digital dealer clones”.
According to the company, slated for a Q1 2026 launch in Spain, doing so solves challenges related to high operating costs and limited innovation.
Hagman wrote on LinkedIn: “With Avanti Studios, Jonas and I set out to address the biggest challenges operators face today. High costs, slow innovation and limited scalability. The result is a fully real-time, multiplayer Live Casino platform that delivers the trust of land-based play with the efficiency and flexibility modern operators need.”
Hagman stepped down as the CEO of LeoVegas in June after spending 14 years serving as the company’s CEO.
He founded the company alongside Robin Ramm-Ericson in 2011 in Sweden, which was then subsequently acquired by MGM Resorts International in 2022 for approximately $607m.
Upon his departure, he was replaced as CEO by Mattias Wedar, who had previously served as Chief Product and Technology Officer and Deputy CEO for LeoVegas.
“Founding and leading LeoVegas Group to become a market leader has been one of the greatest adventures of my life, and I am incredibly proud of everything we in ‘Team Leo’ have accomplished,” commented Hagman at the time of leaving LeoVegas.
“When we launched in Sweden in 2012, the industry was in its infancy, and we were sailing in uncharted waters. With a strong team, great commitment, and a fantastic corporate culture, we navigated the course successfully and managed to become one of the leading international players – it is truly impressive.
Avanti will be based in Stockholm, where it has built an internal motion capture studio.
Similar to the technology used by video games and animated films, the company says it will record the movements and techniques of land-based croupiers and transform these into digital clones that act as live dealers.
The initial launch in Spain will begin with its Toro vs Matador Live titles, as well as live blackjack. Expected future releases include multiple live baccarat and blackjack variations.
“By combining real-time multiplayer gameplay with lifelike digital dealer clones and next-generation streaming technology, we’re creating something fundamentally different from traditional Live Casino models,” added Delin.
