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World Pool: UK and Irish racing hits £475 million

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Turnover on World Pool bet types on British Champions Day totalled HK$202.7 million (£21.4 million), bringing the figure for all races commingled during the 19 World Pool days in the UK and Ireland to HK$4.7 billion (£475 million).

King George Day at Ascot saw the biggest jump in turnover, rising from HK$253m to a new record of HK$287m, an increase of over 13%, while 2,000 Guineas Day as well as days one and three of Royal Ascot also posted year-on-year increases.

The overall total is only marginally down on 2022’s figure of HK$4.9bn, but still significantly up on 2021 (HK3.9 billion).

Prize money won across the 131 World Pool races in the UK and Ireland this year has hit a record high of £32 million, while the World Pool Moment of the Day initiative has seen £68,000 given out – £4,000 for each of the 17 World Pool Moment of the Day winners.

Ebbe Verhestraeten, groom of Big Rock, was awarded Moment of the Day on Saturday and he will have a chance of winning a VIP trip for four to Hong Kong next year if he is to win World Pool Moment of the Year.

Outside of the UK and Ireland, World Pool meetings in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Australia have all posted record turnover numbers, while World Pool will be active for two further meetings in Australia: Cox Plate Day and Victoria Derby Day.

Earlier on Saturday, the Caulfield Cup broke the record for the highest turnover on a World Pool race in Australia with HK$54.24 million (AUD$10.98 million) bet into the pool, eclipsing the HKD$51.54 million (AUD$10.43 million) bet on the previous weekend’s Everest. Only two World Pool races this year – the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes and the Dubai World Cup – have had bigger pools.

In the UK and Ireland, World Pool is accessed via the Tote, at racecourses, online and via the Tote App. All customers betting directly with the Tote benefit from Tote Guarantee which ensures all Win bets will always exceed or match the industry Starting Price.

Tote value for UK and Irish customers betting into World Pool on British Champions Day:

·        Tote Win beat the Industry Starting Price in 5 out of the 6 races and matched on the remaining occasions

·        Tote Win overround was 112% versus an industry Starting Price of 120%

·        Tote Exacta beat Forecast in 6 out of the 6 races

·        Tote Trifecta beat Tricast in 5 out of the 6 races

Tote value for customers betting on the 19 British and Irish World Pool days 2023:

·       Tote Win beat the Industry Starting Price in 66% of races and matched on the remaining occasions

·        A £1 bet with the Tote on every winner on British and Irish World Pool days in 2023 paid £263 more than the industry Starting Price

·        Tote Win overround was 109% versus an industry Starting Price of 122%

·        Tote Exacta beat Forecast in 78% of races

·        Tote Trifecta beat Tricast in 84% of races races where the Tricast operated

Michael Fitzsimons, Executive Director, Wagering Products of the HKJC, said: “We are really pleased with how World Pool has been received in the UK and Ireland again this year and the turnover figures look strong against a challenging economic backdrop.

“There are many more opportunities for growth in the UK and Ireland and we look forward to being able to roll out World Pool at even more of the season’s flagship race days. Having the Lockinge, the Irish Derby and the Sun Chariot as World Pool events for the first time this year worked really well, and we look forward to adding more days in the future.

“We’d like to thank all of our partners, including the UK Tote, Racecourse Media Group and Ascot Racecourse – who have all been with us since World Pool was first created in 2019 – for all their hard work in making it another highly successful season.”

Alex Frost, Chief Executive of the UK Tote, said: “We are delighted that British and Irish racing has enjoyed such a successful World Pool season in 2023. It is incredibly positive to see revenues from World Pool supporting racecourses’ investment in prize money which was at a new record of £32 million for World Pool races this year. This highlights the increasingly important role pool betting is playing the in the future sustainability of the sport.

“Following our new five-year agreement with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, making the UK Tote the exclusive partner for World Pool in the UK and Ireland, we look forward to collaborating on exciting developments, including new bet types and further improvements to the customer experience for the 2024 season.”

Martin Stevenson, Chief Executive Officer of Racecourse Media Group (RMG), which represents the media interests of The Jockey Club, Newbury, Goodwood, York, The Curragh and Leopardstown racecourses, said: “World Pool has been a hugely important initiative for British and Irish racing to grow revenues and prize money, and it’s been great to see such strong performance again in 2023.

“We’ve added three new race days to the calendar this year with the Lockinge, Irish Derby and Sun Chariot, and hopefully we’ll be able to add some more in 2024.

“It’s been a pleasure working with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, UK Tote and all of our racecourses on World Pool this season and we are already looking forward to 2014.

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Ex-Binance exec Ryan Horn joins Press Box PR as Growth and Business Development Advisor

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Press Box PR, an award-winning digital PR agency specialising in betting, gaming, sport, consumer, retail, and hospitality, has announced the appointment of former Binance sports partnerships leader Ryan Horn as its new Growth and Business Development Advisor.

Horn will work closely with Press Box PR’s leadership team to drive strategic growth initiatives, advise on international opportunities, and support clients navigating the fast-evolving intersection of sport, payments, gaming, and emerging technologies.

With offices in London and Manchester, Press Box PR is renowned for securing earned media coverage across gambling, sports, consumer, finance, hospitality, and catering publications. The agency also helps brands increase visibility in AI-generated answers, citations, and large language model (LLM) recommendations. Press Box PR was named PR Agency of the Year at the 2026 European iGaming Awards.

Horn brings over 20 years of experience at the crossroads of global sport, commercial partnerships, and digital innovation. He has collaborated with major organisations including FIFA, UEFA, the International Olympic Committee, Formula 1, and the Rugby Football Union, helping connect global brands with some of the world’s largest sporting audiences.

He co-founded Brandtix, a sports data intelligence company that introduced a data-driven approach to sponsorship measurement, and later held senior roles in the global advertising sector, including Chief Business Development Officer at Euro RSCG, managing sponsorship strategy and campaigns for top-tier brands.

More recently, Horn led sports and digital asset partnerships at Binance, working with figures and organisations such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Mike Tyson, and Italian Serie A club Lazio, with a focus on the convergence of sport, digital payments, fan engagement platforms, and online gaming ecosystems.

In his role at Press Box PR, Horn will provide strategic insight on emerging areas shaping modern sports business, including AI-driven fan engagement, tokenised commerce platforms, global payments infrastructure, and the digital transformation of sport.

Alex Donohue, Founder and Managing Director of Press Box PR, said:
“Ryan has spent his career at the intersection of sport, technology, and commercial innovation. His experience and network will be hugely valuable as we expand internationally and support clients across sport, betting, and fintech.”

Horn added:
“The digital transformation of sport is creating entirely new commercial ecosystems. I’m excited to join Press Box PR and help clients navigate and communicate their role in this evolving landscape.”

The post Ex-Binance exec Ryan Horn joins Press Box PR as Growth and Business Development Advisor appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

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Choice Gaming

Choice Gaming: Expanding Across Slots, Crash, Instant and AI Live Casino

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Choice Gaming produces and distributes content across four key verticals: slots, crash games, instant formats, and live casino offerings via its dedicated Kiss division. The company maintains full control over concept development, visual direction, and release scheduling, ensuring a cohesive and strategically aligned portfolio.

Collaboration-Driven Product Development
A cornerstone of Choice Gaming’s approach is integrating public figures and cultural collaborators directly into the design of its games. In the crash segment, Evra Crash was developed in partnership with football legend Patrice Evra, incorporating his likeness, persona, and competitive identity into the game’s mechanics and presentation.

In the instant category, Mono Choice was created alongside contemporary artist Alec Monopoly. The title embeds elements of his signature artistic style throughout the creative execution, extending well beyond surface-level branding.

The collaboration approach also extends to live casino offerings. As part of its cross-vertical strategy, the company launched Evra Sic Bo, a live table game featuring Patrice Evra’s identity integrated into the format.

Live Casino: Kiss Division
Through the Kiss division, Choice Gaming operates an AI-driven live casino infrastructure. Kiss AI Live Casino replaces traditional fixed studios with digitally generated environments and AI-controlled dealers. Operators can customize dealer appearance, ethnicity, attire, language, atmosphere, and studio design without altering the table structure.

The live portfolio includes multiple Sic Bo tables, each offering distinct dealer presentations and visual styles, creating differentiated table experiences within a scalable framework.

Slot Portfolio
Choice Gaming’s slot catalogue features fully in-house developed titles designed for multi-market deployment. Each release adheres to a defined concept and visual framework, avoiding reused layouts or re-skinned games. The company’s roadmap includes continued expansion of slot themes and innovative design directions throughout the year.

Crash and Instant Segments
Beyond collaboration-led releases, the crash and instant categories continue to grow with titles built around streamlined mechanics, clear visual identity, and structured gameplay positioning.

Scaling with Control
Choice Gaming continues to expand across all verticals while retaining complete oversight of production, creative direction, and collaborative integration, ensuring consistent quality and innovation across its portfolio.

The post Choice Gaming: Expanding Across Slots, Crash, Instant and AI Live Casino appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

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Groove

Groove Rolls Out Next-Gen Instant Tournaments Solution

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In an industry where player attention spans diminish rapidly, leading platform and aggregator Groove has launched what could be the most valuable weapon in the fight for engagement: their groundbreaking Instant Tournaments Tool.

This groundbreaking advancement enables operators to envision, set up, and initiate high-stakes tournaments straight from Groove Command’s back-office faster than it takes to make a pot of coffee, no developers needed, no delays, only sheer competitive excitement at the speed of now.

The development team, under the guidance of Product Development Head Shay Kababie, observed with pleasure as the initial live test occurred. An experienced casino operator, who was initially doubtful, launched a $10,000 Blackjack Blitz with only a few clicks. The outcome? A sudden increase in players, soaring engagement statistics, and revenue boosts, all happening before lunchtime arrived.

“This alters everything,” the operator said, observing leaderboards illuminate in real-time.

For years, creating tournaments involved managing intricate technical specifications, relying on overloaded development teams, and hoping that everything would run smoothly at launch. Groove’s approach completely eliminates these obstacles.

The new advancement in the Groove Command platform is already causing a stir in the iGaming industry, as beta testers indicate significant increases in player involvement and earnings.

“This isn’t just an upgrade, it’s a fundamental shift in how operators compete,” says Rachel Tourgeman, Head of Partnerships at Groove. “Our partners have been begging for a solution that keeps pace with player demand. Now they can create high-stakes tournaments faster than most teams can schedule a meeting. We’re seeing operators launch tournaments around live sports events, viral trends, even competitor outages, all in real time.”

Operators can now react to market trends with the quickness of day traders, identifying an opportunity in the morning and profiting from it by afternoon. Looking to take advantage of a competitor’s downtime? A competition exists for that. Looking to reconnect with inactive VIPs? The ideal challenge is merely a few clicks away.

This advancement integrates effortlessly into the Groove Command ecosystem, the most robust back-office platform in the industry. In this scenario, establishing a tournament is merely one tool in a well-equipped arsenal. Operators have total control over their operations, encompassing detailed game management, real-time financial analysis, compliance protections, and now, immediate competitive experiences that engage players continuously.

The consequences are significant. While rivals may take days or weeks to set up tournaments, operators using Groove can experiment, refine, and enhance various tournament formats in just one afternoon.

The platform’s user-friendly interface masks its advanced features, customizable prize formats, interactive leaderboards, and specific player segmentation can all be effortlessly set up via a sleek dashboard.

“Speed has become the ultimate competitive advantage in iGaming,” explains Kababie. “We’re not just giving operators tools, we’re giving them the ability to outmanoeuvre competitors at a strategic level. The team that can launch a perfect tournament when a trending slot drops, or capitalise on a major sporting event in real-time, that’s the team that wins.”

Looking ahead, Groove’s roadmap promises even more disruptive innovations, including AI-driven tournament suggestions and automated optimisation algorithms. But for now, the message to the industry is clear: the tournament landscape has changed forever, and operators who hesitate will find themselves hopelessly outpaced.

Yahale Meltzer, Co-Founder and CEO of Groove, explains the strategic advantage: “For years, operators have been trapped in a cycle of slow, expensive tournament development. We’ve broken that cycle. Now when an operator sees Messi score a hat-trick or Drake tweet about a new slot, they can capitalise immediately. That agility is worth millions in today’s market.”

Perfectly incorporated into the Groove Command platform, the Instant Tournaments Tool complements a range of operator-centric innovations such as real-time analytics, automated compliance verification, and data-informed game suggestions. The user-friendly interface of the system enables operators to configure personalized rules, prize frameworks, and qualification criteria effortlessly through easy dropdown menus, eliminating the need for coding skills.

In the future, Groove has hinted at new features such as AI-driven tournament enhancement and large-scale cross-operator events. However, as Meltzer observes, “The true revolution is occurring at this moment, in the possession of operators who realize that speed is the new greatest competitive edge.”

Meltzer states, “The tournament arms race has changed permanently and Groove has just given operators the nuclear codes.”

The post Groove Rolls Out Next-Gen Instant Tournaments Solution appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

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