Mapped Reel Consulting is the advisory practice of David Lyons — 18 years in senior online-gaming leadership, 16 years in financial services, and current non-executive director across VGW Malta entities and Irish regulatory-adjacent boards.
Mapped Reel Consulting is a boutique Irish advisory (CRO 658846) built around the working practice of David Lyons. The mandate is narrow on purpose: online gaming operators, slot studios, regulators, and boards that need someone who has lived on all four sides of the table.
David spent 18 years in senior management at some of the category's most consequential operators — including multiple senior roles at PokerStars (through Associate Director of Poker Engagement) and executive tenure at VGW's Global Poker, Chumba Casino and Luckyland Casino — before stepping out of full-time executive work in 2026 to focus on advisory, governance, and co-founding HipDurian Games, a Delaware C-Corp slot studio.
He remains a non-executive director on nine VGW Malta entity boards, chairs finance-adjacent work on the Asthma Society of Ireland's Audit, Risk and Finance Committee, and was announced in July 2026 as leading Irish operations for SolutionsHub ahead of Ireland's new GRAI regime.
Non-executive director seats and committee work for online gaming operators, regulated-services businesses, and mission-led boards. Audit, risk and finance committee experience across MGA, Basel II and Irish charity-governance environments.
Practical preparation for GRAI licensing in Ireland, MGA readiness in Malta, and US sweepstakes and social-casino market entry. Media-ready framing on Irish gambling regulation, harm reduction and operator readiness.
End-to-end setup for slot studios — from Delaware C-Corp formation and founder equity structuring to certification planning, math-review commissioning, sound and art pipelines, and release cadence.
Revenue-management, poker-engagement and player-lifecycle work drawn from PokerStars-era operating experience. Applied recently to Global Poker, Chumba Casino, US Poker Open and PokerGO / Ryan Seacrest partnership contexts.
Seed-round structuring for gaming founders, Delaware / Irish hold-co planning, and cross-border tax-aware shareholding — including Irish participation-exemption preservation for corporate holdings in operating entities.
Independent operator-side and litigation-support work: board pack review, VGW-style market-context expert commentary, and diligence for investors entering regulated online gaming.
Delaware C-Corp slot-games studio. Co-founder and CEO. Building a compact multi-disciplinary team across math, art, audio and RGS engineering for US sweepstakes, MGA and other regulated markets.
Announced July 2026 as NED supporting Irish operations ahead of the incoming Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) framework.
Continuing non-executive director across nine VGW Malta-registered entities post an executive career inside VGW's Global Poker, Chumba Casino and Luckyland Casino brands.
Board member and Audit, Risk and Finance Committee member — bringing regulated-services governance experience into an Irish public-interest charity setting.
Regulated online gaming rewards operators who can hold three things at once: a real product instinct, a boardroom's tolerance for risk, and a lawyer's patience with the licence.
A novel · 2020
Two decades on the inside of the online-gaming industry, blown up and rendered as historical fiction. Set against the neon of the old Las Vegas Strip, Vig follows a gambler through fixed fights, thrown ballgames and the kind of characters that real Vegas hands recognise on sight.
Fixed fights, poker cheats, bad markers, thrown ballgames, counterfeit money, Nazi memorabilia, and one exploding hotel. And that’s just the stuff that’s true.
I savoured it, word for word… original, engaging, and amusing, with a focus on the cultural fringes of which not even an old Vegas hand like myself had much idea.
Most engagements begin as an introductory conversation about scope, jurisdiction and fit. If Mapped Reel isn't the right home for the mandate, David will usually know who is.
