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World Pool returns to UK and Ireland with launch of £50,000 jockeys’ charity prize

Published

2 years ago

April 30, 2024

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World Pool, the largest globally commingled horse racing pools created and powered by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, will make its UK seasonal bow at Newmarket Racecourse on Saturday 4 May, where a brand new £50,000 initiative is being launched for jockeys.

For the first time the opening two Classics of the UK Flat season will both be World Pool events, with the QIPCO 1000 Guineas on Sunday 5 May becoming a new World Pool race this year and joining the 2000 Guineas run the day before.

Guineas weekend will also see the start of a new World Pool initiative, the World Pool UK & Ireland Jockeys’ Championship, where jockeys will compete to accumulate points across World Pool fixtures in the UK & Ireland.

For the winning jockey of every World Pool race in the UK and Ireland, points will be awarded based on the World Pool win dividend. The concept of this point system offers a level playing field for all jockeys, from leaders to rising stars, and their chances of winning are dictated by the public as reflected by their World Pool odds.

Beginning with the QIPCO 2000 Guineas, the competition will conclude on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on 19 October, with the winner receiving £50,000 to be donated to a charity of their choice.

A further new addition to the World Pool calendar this year will be the Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas on Sunday 26 May. The Tattersalls Gold Cup, run on the same day, will also be a World Pool race for the first time, with prize money increased from €450,000 in 2023 to €500,000 this year.

Following the successful introduction of World Pool Moment of the Year in 2022 in Great Britain and Ireland, this will continue in 2024 covering all full World Pool meetings and will reward stable staff with cash prizes, as well as a VIP trip to Hong Kong for four people in 2025 to the overall winner.

One World Pool Moment of the Day will be selected at each full World Pool meeting with the winning groom receiving HK$40,000 (or equivalent – £4,000 in the UK and €4,000 in Ireland).

Michael Fitzsimons, Executive Director, Wagering Products of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, said: “It’s fantastic to be returning to the UK and Ireland with an extended World Pool fixture list this year now featuring the English and Irish 1000 Guineas, and we look forward to making these historic fillies’ Classics available to customers from around the world.

“In addition to the popular World Moment of the Day initiative, we’re excited to announce the new World Pool UK & Ireland Jockeys’ Championship, which will provide a different dimension and further competition to World Pool racedays right up until QIPCO British Champions Day in October.

“It’s a unique competition, with a jockey’s points being determined by World Pool win dividends, and a great initiative as there’s £50,000 up for grabs for the leading rider to donate to a charity of their choice. We are committed to giving money back to racing and good causes, and this seemed the perfect way to do that.”

Alex Frost, Chief Executive of the UK Tote Group, said: “It’s always an exciting time of year as the Flat season gets underway and we’re delighted that both the UK’s first Classics are World Pool events. City Of Troy has the potential to be a global superstar and we look forward to his seasonal reappearance being watched and bet on by 28 countries who play into the UK’s first World Pool event of 2024.

“Racing fans in the UK and Ireland will be able to access the huge global pools at tote.co.uk, on the Tote App and at racecourses which means excellent value is on offer, while the sport benefits from this increasingly important revenue stream.”

Martin Stevenson, Chief Executive Officer of Racecourse Media Group (RMG), which represents the media interests of The Jockey Club, Goodwood, and York Racecourses, said: “RMG looks forward to another exciting World Pool season in UK and Ireland, and will continue to work closely with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, UK Tote and our racecourses to grow both the sport’s revenues and global appeal.”

Amy Starkey, Managing Director, Jockey Club Racecourses, said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and thank them for their support as we deliver three exciting World Pool days across the QIPCO Guineas Festival and the Betfred Derby Festival.

“For the first time in the UK, we have worked alongside World Pool to host a nine-race card on QIPCO 2000 Guineas Day. This will include the first Classic of the season, whilst we are also delighted to feature the following day’s three-year-old Classic Fillies’ race, the QIPCO 1000 Guineas, as a World Pool race for the first time.

“World Pool enables strong reinvestment back into British racing and working alongside them to secure these additional races is an important step as we continue to strengthen links with Hong Kong, engage more fans with British racing and strive to grow our sport.”

Brian Kavanagh, Chief Executive of the Curragh Racecourse, said: “We are delighted to extend our relationship with World Pool in 2024 with the Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas and the Tattersalls Gold Cup on 26 May and the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby meeting on 30 June included in the programme.

“We had a very positive first experience with World Pool last year and look forward to building on it this year, bringing our racing to a wider audience. Irish horses have enjoyed great success internationally in recent years and we are delighted to be showcasing our best races through World Pool.

“Inclusion in World Pool has enabled us to increase prizemoney at the Curragh in 2024 and we look forward to developing this relationship further in the future.”

Upcoming UK and Irish World Pool events in first half of 2024:

May

Saturday 4: 2000 Guineas Day – Newmarket Racecourse (F)

Sunday 5: 1000 Guineas Day – Newmarket Racecourse (S)

Saturday 18: Lockinge Stakes Day – Newbury Racecourse (P)

Sunday 26: Irish 1000 Guineas Day – Curragh Racecourse (P)

June

Saturday 1: Derby Stakes Day – Epsom Racecourse (F)

Tuesday 18: Queen Anne Stakes Day – Ascot Racecourse (F)

Wednesday 19: Prince of Wales’s Stakes Day – Ascot Racecourse (F)

Thursday 20: Gold Cup Day – Ascot Racecourse (F)

Friday 21: Commonwealth Cup Day – Ascot Racecourse (F)

Saturday 22: Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes Day – Ascot Racecourse (F)

Sunday 30: Irish Derby Day – Curragh Racecourse (F)

*F: Full meeting – World Pool coverage on all races in the relevant meeting
P: Part meeting – World Pool coverage only on selected races in the relevant meeting

S: Single race – World Pool coverage only on this race in the relevant meeting

The post World Pool returns to UK and Ireland with launch of £50,000 jockeys’ charity prize appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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30% of Web3 Gamers Fear Pay-to-Win More Than Market Volatility

Published

33 minutes ago

February 17, 2026

Wladimir P.

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Player concerns in Web3 gaming are shifting away from external market forces like token volatility toward internal game fairness and design, according to recent survey data from 51 Games.

Despite frequent industry focus on crypto market cycles and price spikes, nearly 30% of Web3 gamers identify pay-to-win mechanics as their top issue, while only about 19–20% point to token inflation or economic instability as their greatest fear — signaling a deeper worry about gameplay integrity.

More than half of respondents (51–52%) believe that effort should directly translate into reward, making transparency and merit-based progression central to long-term engagement. Players are competitive by nature: when asked how they respond to others earning more, 40% feel motivated to catch up and 27% want to understand the strategy behind others’ success, while only a small minority feel frustrated or believe outcomes are unfair. This suggests that gamers reject systems where earned skill is overshadowed by spending power.

These preferences help explain why pay-to-win concerns resonate more strongly than market volatility. Players accept market fluctuations — which lie outside their control — but react negatively when in-game advantages appear tied to wealth instead of effort or mastery. While market and token risks still matter to around one in five respondents, fairness consistently ranks higher on the priority list.

Matvii Diadkov, Founder of 51 Games, notes this shift clearly: “When players say they fear pay-to-win more than market volatility, they signal that they want rules that reward effort, not spending power.” For developers, this means refocusing from purely token price issues to economic game design that fosters trust, progression clarity, and balanced incentive systems.

Fairness now functions as a key retention driver. Games that offer skill-based progression with visible, fair rules tend to build stronger player loyalty and long-term investment. Aggressive monetization may lure short-term users, but it can undermine trust and engagement when players feel outcomes depend more on spending than skill. Overall, Web3 gamers demonstrate strategic economic awareness: they evaluate reward structures, compare value propositions, and seek systems where effort, not spending, defines their success.

In a rapidly evolving industry, aligning internal game economies with player expectations for fairness, transparency and merit-based advancement appears to matter more than managing external token volatility — a crucial insight for Web3 developers seeking sustainable engagement.

The post 30% of Web3 Gamers Fear Pay-to-Win More Than Market Volatility appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

Latest News

TrafficGuard Launches in the United States to Help More Businesses Combat Growing Ad Fraud and Invalid Traffic

Published

2 hours ago

February 17, 2026

GamingAmericas.com

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The New York expansion strengthens TrafficGuard’s ongoing commitment to reducing global advertising fraud and non-genuine digital traffic, as U.S marketers demand greater transparency, control, and performance certainty amidst AI boom.

TrafficGuard, a leading platform for digital ad verification and fraud prevention, has announced the launch of operations in the United States to support its global growth strategy. TrafficGuard CEO, Mathew Ratty, has relocated to TrafficGuard’s New York office, formalising and accelerating the company’s existing U.S presence to further serve evolving invalid traffic and ad fraud prevention demands in the U.S, and support its growing channel ecosystem. With commercial and customer-facing teams already operating in the United States, this move reflects a deliberate step to scale local leadership, support, and go-to-market execution.

Ratty will support the next phase of U.S growth by meeting with customers and partners in the United States. His presence demonstrates TrafficGuard’s commitment to gathering first-hand feedback on customers’ traffic quality, invalid behaviour, and ad performance challenges across complex, high-spend media environments. He will leverage these insights to boost data integrity, optimisation confidence, and campaign resilience for US businesses with the most efficient solutions to monitor, detect, analyse, and respond to invalid traffic, including but not limited to fraud.

“We’re seeing a rapid increase in sophisticated ad fraud alongside high volumes of non-genuine and non-incremental traffic in the United States, with impacts on budgets becoming much more frequent,” said Mathew Ratty, CEO of TrafficGuard. “For U.S advertisers operating at scale, it’s no longer just about blocking bad clicks. It’s about protecting decision-making, optimisation models, and growth efficiency. That’s where TrafficGuard’s enterprise-grade approach stands apart. We remain committed to building resilience to protect brands across the globe. With an expanding U.S team and accelerated product innovation, 2026 is shaping up to be a defining year for TrafficGuard.”

In 2025, TrafficGuard strengthened its executive leadership team with the appointment of Miguel Lopes as Chief Product Officer, based in the United States. With deep experience building and scaling enterprise technology, Lopes is fast-tracking new product development and unlocking additional acquisition channels, ensuring TrafficGuard continues to meet the demands of high-spend, multi-channel advertisers and enterprise media teams.

TrafficGuard is a multi-award winning platform that detects, mitigates, and reports on digital invalid traffic and ad fraud before it hits advertising budgets, trusted by thousands of global businesses including enterprise brands operating across highly competitive verticals such as finance, eCommerce, travel, and gaming. This strategic move will further strengthen TrafficGuard’s presence in the United States as its U.S customer base continues to grow and more brands seek locally supported, enterprise-ready solutions. The company is riding a robust growth pipeline, with plans to significantly expand its team in the region and enable brands to boost their revenue and confidently scale advertising campaigns by eliminating non-genuine, non-incremental, and wasteful traffic across paid media.

“It’s clear that tackling ad fraud and invalid traffic more broadly is becoming a more urgent priority for advertisers in the U.S, and this is one of the main drivers behind our decision to expand in the region,” said Chad Kinlay, CMO at TrafficGuard. “As AI accelerates automation across media buying, marketers need independent, enterprise-grade validation to ensure performance data can be trusted. TrafficGuard helps brands defend profitability today while building smarter, more resilient growth for the future.”

The expansion reinforces TrafficGuard’s position as a leader in a rapidly evolving ad landscape. The company is enhancing enterprise-grade traffic validation, prevention, and optimisation intelligence and accelerating the rollout of innovative products across the globe to meet the demands of next-generation digital advertising, while ensuring U.S customers are supported by local expertise, local teams, and local insight.

The post TrafficGuard Launches in the United States to Help More Businesses Combat Growing Ad Fraud and Invalid Traffic appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.

Latest News

TRUEiGTECH Unveils Enterprise-Grade Prediction Market Platform for Operators

Published

8 hours ago

February 17, 2026

Wladimir P.

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TRUEiGTECH has announced the launch of an enterprise-grade prediction market platform, designed to help operators, platform owners, and institutions build outcome-based or event-driven trading markets at scale.

As traditional sports betting, media monetization, and trading platforms face growing competition and regulatory complexity, prediction markets are emerging as a fast-growing adjacent category. By converting collective expectations into tradable probability signals, operators can offer differentiated products without the need for entirely new user acquisition channels.

TRUEiGTECH-built prediction markets are already deployed by operators across the USA and Europe, with additional rollouts underway. Once a niche, prediction markets are now becoming primary offerings for iGaming operators. Analysts forecast that leading platforms could handle $1 trillion in annual trading volume by 2030, up from roughly $10 billion today, with revenues potentially exceeding $10 billion.

Why Operators Are Turning to Prediction Markets

Prediction markets offer several advantages:

“Bet-on-anything” model – create markets across business, finance, entertainment, politics, and emerging trends.
Faster market entry – ideal for existing iGaming operators with infrastructure in place.
Early-mover advantage – tap into a category still developing globally.
Global momentum – strong uptake in the U.S. and other regulated markets where event-driven participation is growing.

Flexible Deployment Models

TRUEiGTECH co-founder Prish Kumar explained:

“We provide turnkey and bespoke prediction market platform development solutions. Plus, we also offer prediction market clone development and prediction market API integration solutions.”

Operators can use TRUEiGTECH platforms to launch new prediction markets or extend existing offerings, with flexibility and scalability at the core. The platform is designed to be regulation-ready for markets in the USA, Europe, and other regulated jurisdictions.

TRUEiGTECH: Enterprise iGaming Solutions

TRUEiGTECH specializes in enterprise-grade betting and trading infrastructure, offering:

Casino Platforms – AI-driven online casino software , multi-game aggregation, player account management, and compliance-ready architecture.
Sweepstakes Platforms – legally structured software for markets with restricted real-money gaming.
Sportsbook Software – advanced odds management, risk control tools, and real-time in-play betting.
Casino Games – responsive slots and custom content optimized for performance and integration.
Lottery Platforms – supporting draw-based, instant win, and hybrid formats with regulatory reporting.