Press Releases
Hong Kong’s record prize money increase includes world’s richest Group 1 turf sprint
Hong Kong Sprint raised to £2.2m as HKJC boosts prize pot for 2020/21 to over £143m
Hong Kong racing will offer record prize money of HK$1.4 billion (£143.5m) for the 2020/21 season, with the Group 1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint and BMW Hong Kong Derby featuring prominently among the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s upward adjustments.
The LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (6f) will regain its position as the world’s most richly-endowed Group 1 turf sprint with a value this year of HK$22 million (£2.2m), an increase of HK$2 million (£205,000). Five other Group 1 races – Centenary Sprint Cup (6f), Stewards’ Cup (1m), Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (7f), Hong Kong Gold Cup (1m2f) and Champions & Chater Cup (1m4f) – will receive HK$2 million (£205,000) increases, taking their value to HK$12 million (£1.2m).
The historic BMW Hong Kong Derby is Hong Kong’s most important domestic contest and will be worth HK$24 million (£2.4m), a HK$4 million (£400,000) increase on the 2020 renewal. The 1m2f contest is a key race each year, being a vital springboard for the next crop of Hong Kong’s stars, and regains its position as the second-richest Derby in the world, behind only Japan’s equivalent and ahead of the Kentucky Derby, the UAE Derby and the original Derby at Epsom.
The Hong Kong Derby is the final leg in the three-race Four-Year-Old Classic Series and the Club has also taken the decision to up prize money for first two legs: the Hong Kong Classic Mile and Hong Kong Classic Cup will both be worth HK$12 million (£1.2m) in 2021, an increase of HK$2 million (£200,000) to each race.
| Race | 2019/20 (HK$) | 2020/21 (HK$) | Increase (HK$) | % Increase |
| Hong Kong Sprint | 20,000,000 | 22,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 10 |
| Centenary Sprint Cup | 10,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 20 |
| Stewards’ Cup | 10,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 20 |
| Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup | 10,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 20 |
| Hong Kong Gold Cup | 10,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 20 |
| Champions & Chater Cup | 10,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 20 |
| Hong Kong Derby | 20,000,000 | 24,000,000 | 4,000,000 | 20 |
| Hong Kong Classic Mile | 10,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 20 |
| Hong Kong Classic Cup | 10,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 20 |
All Group 2 and Group 3 races will also rise in value. Group 2 purses will increase by 5.9% from HK$4.25 million (£435,000) to HK$4.5 million (£460,000), while the prize funds for Group 3 races will rise by 7.7% from HK$3.25 million (£333,000) to HK$3.5 million (£359,000).
Total prize money for the 2020/21 season’s 88 meetings at Sha Tin and Happy Valley is up by approximately 4.9% on the 2019/20 season. This year’s lucrative purse increases span all handicap races from Class 1 down to Class 5.
| Class | 2019/20 (HK$) | 2020/21 (HK$) | Increase (HK$) | % Increase |
| Group 2 | 4,250,000 | 4,500,000 | 250,000 | 5.9% |
| Group 3 | 3,250,000 | 3,500,000 | 250,000 | 7.7% |
| 1 | 2,800,000 | 3,000,000 | 200,000 | 7.1% |
| 2 | 2,100,000 | 2,200,000 | 100,000 | 4.8% |
| 3 | 1,450,000 | 1,500,000 | 50,000 | 3.4% |
| 4 | 967,000 | 1,000,000 | 33,000 | 3.4% |
| 5 | 725,000 | 750,000 | 25,000 | 3.4% |
Hong Kong Racehorse Owners Association President Mr. Chew Fook Aun said: “At a time when prize money levels are being cut worldwide, the prize money increases announced today by the Hong Kong Jockey Club are very welcome news, and a testament to the strength, resilience and buoyancy of Hong Kong racing, even in these very difficult times”.
Mr. Andrew Harding, Executive Director, Racing, at the Hong Kong Jockey Club said: “Hong Kong racing is among the best in the world and part of what makes it such a competitive sports environment is the excellent prize money available from Class 5 right up to Group 1. Despite the issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty in world economies, we will continue our successful strategy of recent years to increase purse levels as necessary in order to reward and encourage our owners and to ensure Hong Kong’s elite races are attractive to overseas competitors. This approach has been a core element in Hong Kong being able to maintain its position as a world leader in providing quality horseracing and has enabled us to achieve between 20 and 26 horses in the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings for each of the past seven years.
“For next season, the Club has increased prize money to a record overall sum, including a significant injection across all Class 1 to Class 5 handicap races and Group 2 and Group 3 contests. We believe this will help to enhance competition and assist our owners in their attempts to purchase and import the best possible horses in a difficult economic climate.”
Mr. Harding noted the importance of ensuring Hong Kong’s elite races, including the BMW Hong Kong Derby, continue to offer purse money which is among the best in the world.
“Hong Kong is already home to the world’s richest turf races at 2000 metres (1m2f), a mile and 1400 metres (7f), and, while our Group 1 prize money is strong, we have nonetheless identified a specific need to increase the prize funds for six of our Group 1 races, notably the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (6f), which regains its status as the world’s richest Group 1 turf sprint,” he said.
“We have also increased purses for each of our three Four-Year-Old Classic Series races, notably the BMW Hong Kong Derby, which regains its position as the second richest Derby in the world. The investment from our owners in high quality young stock for our Four-Year-Old Classic Series each year brings a vital replenishment of our elite cohort of runners, which in turn maintains the very high standard of racing here in Hong Kong.”
IJC Trainer Bonus
The Hong Kong Jockey Club has also introduced a new bonus for the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship held at Happy Valley in December.
To encourage a higher quality of horses in the four IJC races, the new bonus scheme will offer prizes of HK$200,000 (£20,500) to the most successful trainer in the contest’s four races, HK$100,000 (£10,250) to the runner-up and HK$50,000 (£5,125) to the third-placed trainer, with points awarded in a similar fashion to the jockeys’ competition.
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Brand manager Christie Stanbridge points to the MTN SHIFT Gaming Experience across Hyprop malls as a model for public, walk-up tournaments.
Hyprop is using shopping centres as host venues for public esports tournaments in South Africa, positioning mall-based events as a way to turn online gaming communities into local, in-person audiences. Christie Stanbridge, Brand and Campaigns Marketing Manager at Hyprop, set out the strategy in a statement tied to the MTN SHIFT Gaming Experience, which is hosted across Hyprop malls.
Stanbridge argued that public tournaments in malls lower the barrier for non-gamers and first-time spectators by placing competitive play in high-footfall, familiar spaces. The pitch: shoppers can stop to watch matches, see how organised play works, and experience the atmosphere of live competition without being part of an existing gaming community.
A second focus is access to equipment. Stanbridge said tournaments that supply their own setups can allow participants without consoles, gaming PCs or controllers to compete “on exactly the same kit as everyone else in the room,” at least for the duration of the event. She also framed the mall environment as a place where casual players, younger gamers and parents can observe before committing to entry.
Hyprop cited the MTN SHIFT Gaming Experience as an example of how the format plays out in practice, describing engagement around the play areas, first-time spectators, and in-person interactions between players who may previously have only known each other online. “All tournaments operated by ACGL,” the company said.
The post Hyprop backs mall esports events to bring online gaming communities offline appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
DuelBits has published results from its JUSTIN2026 marketing campaign, saying the UFC-focused activation generated more than 122 million verified video views and contributed to one of the company’s strongest MMA betting events “in recent years.”
The crypto sportsbook and casino operator said the campaign launched ahead of UFC event Freedom 250 at the White House and centred on former UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje. DuelBits framed the partnership as an early bet on Gaethje, before broader commercial interest.
According to the company, the campaign set a KPI to exceed 100 million impressions across owned, paid and partnered media, and ultimately delivered more than 122 million verified clip views via a network of more than 140 creators. The asset mix included a hero film, six short-form cutdowns, behind-the-scenes content and still imagery, distributed via DuelBits’ social channels, MMA publishers, creator partnerships and clipping pages.
DuelBits said the hero content was also integrated into Gaethje’s “Art of Violence” YouTube series. The operator added that the activation drove promotional code engagement and helped convert attention into sportsbook activity.
Jasper Hoekert, Chief Marketing Officer at Duelbits, said: “We wanted to support Justin before everyone else recognised the opportunity. Instead of following the hype once he has already achieved greatness, we wanted to back a champion before anybody else did.
“The campaign wasn’t measured purely on views. Of course, surpassing 122 million verified views and exceeding our 100 million KPI was a huge achievement, but the real success was seeing that attention convert into one of our strongest UFC betting nights in recent years.
“It also reinforced something that’s key to DuelBits as a brand, which is that we don’t do small campaigns. Whether it’s the production quality, creator network, or distribution strategy, we want every activation to show what’s possible when sportsbook marketing is treated like premium entertainment.”
The post DuelBits says UFC creator campaign delivers 122m verified video views appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
New division delivers smart, AI-driven technology solutions to gaming operators, suppliers, and ventures worldwide, built on the same stack SCCG uses to run its own global advisory business.
SCCG Management announces the launch of SCCG Technology, a dedicated division built to deliver intelligent, AI-driven solutions to the iGaming industry. Where SCCG has spent three decades advising gaming companies on what to build, SCCG Technology now builds it.
The division launches with a working portfolio, not a promise. Over the past year, SCCG has re-engineered its own global operation around artificial intelligence: automated content and newsletter systems reaching tens of thousands of industry professionals weekly, real-time market and odds data pipelines feeding its prediction-market ventures,
and AI-assisted CRM and pipeline automation across more than 120 active client engagements.
The proving ground is SCCG’s own digital presence, now being rebuilt on the division’s platform: a site that reassembles itself around each visitor and publishes across every channel from one place. An operator in LATAM and an investor in Las Vegas see the same network through different eyes. Content is AI-accelerated but expert-governed: every AI-assisted claim is labeled and traceable to its source, a discipline that matters in a regulated industry. We built it for the most demanding client we have, ourselves, before offering it to anyone else.
The timing reflects a structural shift in the industry. Operators and suppliers no longer compete only on licenses and content; they compete on data, speed, and the intelligence of their customer experience. AI has moved from experiment to infrastructure, reshaping how players are acquired, how content is produced, how markets are priced, and how compliance is managed. Most gaming companies know this. Far fewer have a partner that understands both the technology and the industry it has to serve.
“Every gaming company I speak with is asking the same two questions: what should we be doing with AI, and who can actually build it for us without a two-year learning curve on how this industry works. SCCG Technology exists because we solved that problem for ourselves first. Now we are opening the toolkit to the industry.” – Stephen A. Crystal, Founder and CEO, SCCG Management
SCCG Technology will deliver across five service lines:
Product Strategy and Build: Carrying a gaming concept from advisory whiteboard to working software. Rapid prototyping and delivery of new gaming products and ventures, the capability a strategy deck cannot substitute for.
Data, Analytics, and Market Intelligence: Real-time odds and market data pipelines, prediction-market tooling, and business intelligence dashboards that put operational truth in front of decision-makers daily.
Compliance-Aware AI Content and Marketing Systems: Automated content production, newsletter and campaign engines, and CRM automation built for a regulated industry, AI-assisted output labeled and traceable, brand voice intact.
AI Operations and Automation: Workflow automation and applied AI across the back office, from player-facing support to reporting, compliance preparation, and the operational plumbing gaming companies run on.
Intelligent Web and Digital Platforms: Digital experiences that personalize by visitor role and region, engineered for conversion and structured for both traditional search and the AI answer engines that increasingly drive discovery.
What separates SCCG Technology from a generalist agency or dev shop is the firm behind it. Every engagement draws on SCCG Management’s 30-plus years inside the gaming industry, its regulatory and commercial expertise across dozens of jurisdictions, and a global client network spanning operators, platforms, suppliers, and investors. SCCG Technology does not need the industry explained to it.
The launch continues a deliberate expansion of the SCCG platform. In the past year the firm has established SCCG LATAM with its Miami office, launched SCCG Brazil with dedicated local leadership, and expanded its managed-services offering for casino operators. SCCG Technology is the connective layer across all of it: the division that turns the firm’s advisory insight into deployed, working technology. The model is expert-governed and AI-accelerated: SCCG’s people supply the industry judgment, and the platform supplies the speed.
“The gaming industry does not have a shortage of technology vendors. It has a shortage of technology partners who understand gaming. That is the gap SCCG Technology was built to close.” – Stephen A. Crystal, Founder and CEO, SCCG Management
SCCG Technology operates as a division of SCCG Management, the gaming industry’s global advisory firm. With more than 30 years of experience, more than 120 active client engagements worldwide, and offices spanning North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, SCCG provides end-to-end advisory services across iGaming, sports betting, sweepstakes, tribal gaming, and casino technology.
The post SCCG Management Launches SCCG Technology, Delivering AI-Driven Solutions to the iGaming Industry appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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