Press Releases
Lead generation company Blexr is heading into new territory after acquiring a website dedicated to the pursuit of great coffee
Blexr operates in the iGaming, sportsbook, and forex affiliate markets and has now purchased HomeGrounds.co, a community of coffee lovers who research and review equipment relating to the home barista market.
The affiliate site, which was set up in 2015, has become the world’s largest home barista community, with millions of visitors each year.
Home Grounds offers advice on the best brewing methods, as well as explaining which kinds of beans to buy according to the drinker’s taste. It also supplies reviews of which equipment a home barista should invest in, along with coffee recipes covering a range of flavours.
Home Grounds was acquired for a six-figure sum by Blexr, an award-winning company that employs around 80 employees who work in Malta, Barcelona and also remotely.
Ian Hills, Blexr’s general manager for Malta, said: “We are always on the lookout for the best ways to apply our lead generation expertise.
“After years of success in the iGaming market, Home Grounds represents our first acquisition of a site which features consumer goods.
“We’ve always prided ourselves on providing value for our users by creating industry-leading products, and we have exciting plans for the Home Grounds brand, which we’ll make sure will continue to delight its existing users as well as attracting many new ones.”
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George Weaver
Weaver and Ward target more Royal Ascot glory via the Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes at Gulfstream Park
Trainer George Weaver will send Easy Life to Gulfstream Park this Saturday for her career debut in the $125,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies with the hope that the filly, owned by R A Hill Stable, BlackRidge Stables LLC and SGV Thoroughbreds, is destined for a future on turf.
“We don’t know if she is turf or dirt to be perfectly honest with you, but we’re going to ask her to turf to see if she can run at Royal Ascot,” Weaver said.
The Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies will co-headline Saturday’s Gulfstream card with the $125,000 Royal Palm Juvenile. The winners of both five-furlong turf stakes for 2-year-olds will each earn an automatic entry into one of six juvenile stakes during the Royal Ascot meeting (June 16-20) at Ascot Racecourse and a $25,000 equine travel stipend.
Weaver has enjoyed considerable success in Gulfstream’s Royal Palm stakes since their inception in 2023, when he saddled Crimson Advocate for a Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies victory and No Nay Mets for a win in the Royal Palm Juvenile. Crimson Advocate went on to capture the Queen Mary (G2) at Ascot Racecourse. No Nay Mets ran off the board in the Norfolk (G2).
“It’s a very, very hard place to win. It’s some of the best racing in the world that you can get. It’s not only great racing, it’s a great social scene, a great atmosphere,” said Weaver, who won the Royal Palm Juvenile last year with Sandal’s Song, who went on to finish third in the Norfolk at Royal Ascot. “When you’re there you feel like you’re participating in something special.”
Easy Life, a daughter of 2022 Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) winner Life is Good, was purchased out of the OBS March sale for $300,000.
“She came out of the 2-year-old sale and had a nice breeze over there. She’s got some speed and we’ve been having a little progress with her since we got her,” said Weaver, who will also be represented at Gulfstream Saturday by Automatic Press in the Royal Palm Juvenile.
J.G. Torrealba has the mount on the filly who is priced at 6-1 on the morning line.
Joker’s Chic, trained by Wesley Ward, enters the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies with one-race experience, however disappointing her fourth-place finish may have been. The Twin Oaks Bloodstock LLC’s daughter of Practical Joke had trained sharply in preparation for her debut, particularly at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream Park’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County.
“She had a work at Palm Meadows on March 15 on turf. Joel Rosario breezed her. We sent her off behind two very nice fillies – two, three lengths behind – and she sat back there and she just eased out and went rolling by them,’ Ward recalled. “It was a very impressive workout.”
Joker’s Chic, a $200,000 purchase at the 2025 Keeneland September sale, prompted the early pace on her debut in a 4 ½-furlong maiden test over Keeneland’s main track before fading to fourth under Irad Ortiz Jr.
“When she ran, I was pretty confident with her. She broke and Irad had her in a beautiful position, but she didn’t make that explosive move she made at Palm Meadows,” Ward said. “I told the owner, ‘This must be a grass filly.’ If she runs back to her work at Palm Meadows, she’s going to be double tough to beat.”
Joao Moreira was named to ride Joker’s Chic at the time of entry but was unable to be released from commitments in Hong Kong. Joe Bravo will replace the international star aboard the Ward trainee, who is rated at 6-1 on the morning line.
Dew Sweepers’ Pot’s Right has been installed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite in a field of nine fillies on the strength of her debut victory at Keeneland. The daughter of Bolt d’Oro overcame a slow start to rally for a 1 ½-length debut victory in a 4 ½-furlong maiden test on dirt.
The Phillip Antonacci-trained filly returned to Palm Meadows to become acquainted with turf during a four-furlong breeze last Friday.
Luis Saez will ride Pot’s Right for the first time on Saturday.
Arindel’s Boots, an impressive 3 ½-length winner of her 4 ½-furlong debut at Gulfstream April 16, is rated second on the morning-line for her turf debut in the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies. The homebred daughter of Brethren, who debuted for trainer Jorge Delgado, will make her first start since being transferred to Carlos David.
Samy Camacho has the return call on Boots.
Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse will be represented by D.J. Stable LLC’s Pros and Cons and Gary Barber’s Sass Sass, in the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies. Pros and Cons, a $375,000 son of Triple Crown champion Justify, and Sass Sass, a homebred daughter of War of Will, will both make their debuts on Saturday.
Edwin Gonzalez has the call on Pros and Cons, while Martin Chuan will ride Sass Sass.
Mark B. Davis’s Dee Snook, an Irish-bred daughter of Sioux Nation trained by Doug O’Neill, and John Franklin and Diane Franklin’s Mo Town Foxy Brown, a Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained daughter of Mo Town, are entered to make their respective debuts.
Leonel Reyes has the mount on Dee Snook, while Nick Juarez has the call on Mo Town Foxy Brown.
Teresa and David Palmer’s Liberty Rings enters the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies off a rallying third-place finish, beaten by a half-length, on her debut on dirt at Gulfstream on April 19.
Miguel Vasquez has the return mount on the Nicholas Palmer-trained daughter of Awesome Slew.
Key takeaways from the Royal Palm>
- Winners of Gulfstream Park’s Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes (fillies’ and colts’ contests) receive free entry & travel stipends to any of Royal Ascot’s two-year-old races (six to choose from).
- Now in its fourth year, Gulfstream Park’s Royal Palm Juvenile Series started with a bang in 2023’s fillies’ division when Crimson Advocate landed a rare transatlantic double, before 2024 Juvenile victor Gabaldon finished second in the Windsor Castle Stakes.
- Five of the six Royal Palm winners have subsequently taken up their Royal Ascot engagements (with Lennilu and Sandal’s Song flying the flag by both recording third-placed finishes in 2025).
- Crimson Advocate was also subsequently bought by Wathnan Racing, rehomed in the UK, before going on to win last year’s Duke of Cambridge Stakes, demonstrating the long-term prospects of these juveniles.
The post Weaver and Ward target more Royal Ascot glory via the Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes at Gulfstream Park appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
Funding
EasyWin closes second seed round at $20m valuation
Real-money casual puzzle tournament startup says an EU private investor backed the April 2026 round.
EasyWin, a U.S.-based real-money gaming startup, said it has closed its second seed funding round at a $20 million valuation. The company announced the round in April 2026 and said it was backed by a private investor from the European Union.
The company previously closed its first seed round in December 2025 at a $15.5 million valuation. That round included funding from Velo Partners, Vladimir Nikolsky and several private angel investors.
EasyWin was founded by Ivan Leshkevich, a former executive at mobile game publisher and developer Mamboo Entertainment. The startup, which currently has a team of eight, says it has built a global tournament platform for casual puzzle games with cash prizes and operates across major markets.
Since launching in 2025, EasyWin reported 25% month-over-month growth in user spending and a 4.9 average user rating. It also said it has expanded into 12 countries with localized legal opinions and payment infrastructure, received PayPal approval for its MCC, and completed payments-stack integrations with global providers.
The company also said it has obtained GLI certification “confirming compliance with U.S. regulations for skill-based gaming products.” Leshkevich said: “In the long term, we aim to become a leading global skill-based gaming platform. To achieve this, we focus on a strong product USP and new AI-based dev tools.”
The post EasyWin closes second seed round at $20m valuation appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Latest News
EasyWin closes second seed round at $20m valuation
U.S.-based real-money gaming startup says the round was backed by a private investor from the European Union.
EasyWin, a Delaware-based real-money gaming startup, said it has closed its second seed funding round at a $20 million valuation in April 2026. The company said the round was backed by a private investor from the European Union.
The announcement follows EasyWin’s first seed round, which the company said closed in December 2025 at a $15.5 million valuation. EasyWin said that round included funding from Velo Partners, Vladimir Nikolsky and several private angel investors.
Founded by Ivan Leshkevich, a former executive at mobile game publisher and developer Mamboo Entertainment, EasyWin said it has built a global tournament platform for casual puzzle games with cash prizes. The company said it operates across major markets with a team of eight people.
EasyWin said that since launching in 2025 it has delivered 25% month-over-month growth in user spending and maintains a 4.9 average user rating. The company also said it has expanded into 12 countries with localized legal opinions and payment infrastructure.
On product and compliance milestones, EasyWin said it received PayPal approval for its MCC and completed full integration of its payments stack with leading global providers. The company also said it has obtained GLI certification from an independent testing agency, which it said confirms compliance with U.S. regulations for skill-based gaming products.
“In the long term, we aim to become a leading global skill-based gaming platform,” said Ivan Leshkevich, founder of EasyWin. “To achieve this, we focus on a strong product USP and new AI-based dev tools.”
The post EasyWin closes second seed round at $20m valuation appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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