From day zero.
What started as a side project with Mike and I while he was at Perion (then a client of my agency), eventually spun out, rebranded into WTF, and struggled to find traction — until we realised we needed something louder. That spark became Hamster Racing.
One design session stands out. We pieced together the first version of what would become the viral phenomenon, creating the original hamster betting interface on Solana. While designing the hamster personas, I named one Max Furstappen — and the tone for the entire universe snapped into place.
That stupid pun changed everything.
Naming a hamster Max Furstappen turned out to be the unlock. He became the star of the league, pulled in F1 and Red Bull fans, and turbo-charged the virality. Seeing the real Max Verstappen sign a Furstappen jersey was surreal — a moment that summed up how far this thing had already spiralled.
The views went nuclear. TikToks exploded. At the time, the entire hamster track lived in a tiny rented London apartment. For one month, it became one of the most-viewed videos on the internet. That was the signal. Views were solved — the real question now was whether people would actually bet on it, and whether that traction was enough to attract investment.
Iggy loves the hamsters, her casino Motherland was one of our first sponsorship deals.
Raising money wasn’t easy — a hamster racing betting platform isn’t exactly an easy sell. The guys went through plenty of conversations before the right partners came on board, seeing what others didn’t. They didn’t just get it — they loved it. Chaotic, stupid in the right way, and genuinely different in a painfully repetitive market.
They came on as major investors and partners, and things escalated quickly. That’s when this became my full-time role. As Perion wound down product operations, I stepped in as Creative Director — which in practice means product design, UX/UI, branding, animation, 3D, OBS setups, character design, pitch decks… basically everything.
On the product side, I designed the live-show betting platform with a mobile-first, stripped-back, highly visual approach. The casino frontend is necessarily conventional due to the underlying platform, layering in more experimental features utilising Smartico, a powerful gamification and engagement engine.
On the brand side, I built identities for every live show format — merch, social, brand systems. Everything runs on absurd humour and hyper-vibrant visuals, right down to fake sponsors like Marr, a fictional energy drink that I later turned into a real (and alcoholic) version for reasons best left unexplored.
We also gained access to tier-one sports teams and began collaborating on content, including time in the Williams F1 garage at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Whirlwind trip to Europe
I also led the design of our original crypto casino games and lead the design for WTF Studios as a global team. These games lean hard into our characters, lore, and art direction. The creative brief is simple: make people say “what the fuck.” I’ve yet to be told to dial it down — see the toilet and cocaine games below. Explore the WTF Studios case study if you’re brave here.
Some of my unhinged game designs, i'm a menace to society.
It's rare to work with people who are creative as myself who share the same kind of unhinged humour.
The brands and world I created with them are a reflection of what I want to see in an iGaming experience, where creativity and humour aren't a side thought but the entire brand. This entire journey came down to relationships and trust. Both founders had worked with me previously and knew they could rely on me to deliver with minimal oversight.
We've built the most creative iGaming experience ever.
Next projects.
(2026©)
