Overview
The Tote operates high-volume, real-time betting platforms where reliability, scalability, and regulatory compliance are non-negotiable. After an initial migration from on-premise infrastructure to Google Cloud Platform, The Tote made the strategic decision to move again — this time to AWS — to address scaling limitations, rising costs, and architectural constraints.
D55 was engaged to support this transition, bringing deep AWS and regulated gaming (RMG) expertise to modernise key applications and establish reusable delivery patterns for future growth.
Challenge
The Tote identified several structural and technical challenges that were limiting delivery velocity and platform scalability:
- Tightly coupled systems
Multiple application components were writing to the same relational database, making independent scaling difficult and creating uncertainty around data ownership and workflow changes. - Fragmented technology stack
The existing platform was built across PHP, Python, and Go, while the strategic direction was to standardise on C#, increasing maintenance complexity and slowing development. - Scaling and cost constraints on GCP
The platform struggled with reliable scaling under load, and cloud costs were escalating unpredictably. - Limited microservices experience
While microservices were identified as the right architectural direction, The Tote needed hands-on expertise to design and implement them correctly — including local development, DevOps, and testing practices.
Solution
D55 worked closely with The Tote to design and deliver a modern, cloud-native architecture on AWS.
Key elements of the solution included:
- Microservices architecture on AWS
Legacy components were replaced with new C# microservices running on Amazon EKS, enabling independent scaling and clearer service boundaries. - Data modernisation
D55 recommended moving from SQL Server to DynamoDB for workloads better suited to key-value access patterns, improving performance and scalability. Redis was introduced for in-memory caching. - Event-driven integration
SNS and SQS were used to decouple services and improve resilience across workflows. - Improved developer experience
A local development environment was created using containerised DynamoDB, significantly increasing developer productivity and consistency across environments. - DevOps and testing by default
All services were delivered with strong unit and integration test coverage, alongside automated CI/CD pipelines to support reliable, repeatable releases.
This approach allowed The Tote to migrate from GCP to AWS with minimal disruption while establishing modern delivery foundations for future services.
Results & Outcomes
- Faster delivery of critical KYC, compliance, and wallet services
- Improved scalability and cost control on AWS
- Increased developer productivity through better tooling and workflows
- Fully tested, production-ready microservices with strong DevOps foundations
- Reusable architectural patterns now adopted for all new services at The Tote
Looking Forward
The delivery patterns and microservices architecture introduced by D55 are now embedded into The Tote’s platform roadmap. This enables faster feature delivery, independent scaling, and continued modernisation as new services are added on AWS.
Why D55?
- Deep experience in regulated gaming (RMG) platforms and high-scale betting systems
- Proven AWS expertise as an Advanced Tier Partner
- Strong microservices and cloud-native architecture capability
- Focus on delivery velocity, testing, and operational readiness
- Ability to work alongside in-house teams and leave reusable patterns behind
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