Press Releases
World Pool returns to UK and Ireland with launch of £50,000 jockeys’ charity prize
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.
Press Releases
Skyesports Championship 2024: Counter-Strike 2 unveiled with $200,000 Prize Pool, Global Teams, and LAN in India.
Skyesports, a premier global IP builder for gaming and esports, has announced the return of its longest-running esports IP, the Skyesports Championship, for its sixth edition in 2024. The Counter-Strike 2 esports tournament in the Skyesports Championship 2024 will feature an impressive prize pool of $200,000.
Teams from around the world will converge in India for an intense on-ground event to compete for the prestigious title. The Skyesports Championship 2024: Counter-Strike 2 Main Event is set to happen from July 23 to 28 in India with eight teams competing for the title. Five of these will be directly invited while two will secure their slots through the Europe and India Qualifiers, respectively. The final slot is reserved for the champions of the previous Skyesports Counter-Strike 2 tournament, the Skyesports Masters 2024.
The list of teams is as follows:
● Aurora Gaming: Serbia (Skyesports Masters 2024 champions)
● Mongolz: Mongolia
● BetBoom: Russia
● Eternal Fire: Turkey
● Furia Esports: Brazil
● TBD (5th invited team will be announced at a later date)
● EU Qualifier Champion: TBD
● India Qualifier Champion: TBD
Commenting on the Skyesports Championship 2024 Counter-Strike 2, Shiva Nandy, Founder and CEO, Skyesports, said, “The Skyesports Championship has been our premium IP which was founded in 2018 as a regional esports tournament in Chennai. Now, after five continuous editions, the tournament is back for its sixth year and is bigger than ever featuring the top teams from around the world in the Counter-Strike 2 esports tournament. Due to unfortunate circumstances, we couldn’t host the Skyesports Masters as a LAN in India. This time, however,we are thrilled to bring some of the world’s most distinguished Counter-Strike 2 teams to the Skyesports Championship 2024 Main Event.
Details for the India and Europe Qualifiers will be announced soon. The Skyesports Championship 2024 is the third tournament in the Skyesports $1 million Counter-Strike 2 esports roadmap. Earlier this year, Skyesports successfully hosted the Skyesports Grand Slam in Pune, India, and the Skyesports Masters.
Furthermore, the Skyesports Championship 2024 is a multi-game esports IP. Besides the Counter-Strike 2 tournament, the IP will feature several other gaming titles catering to different gaming communities. These will be announced at a later date.
The post Skyesports Championship 2024: Counter-Strike 2 unveiled with $200,000 Prize Pool, Global Teams, and LAN in India. appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
1/ST CONTENT, the leading provider of premium content for North American horse racing, has bolstered its international portfolio with the timely addition of Assiniboia Downs (ASD), the popular Canadian racetrack located in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
ASD’s season commences today (20 May), with live racing typically staged every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 7:30pm local time as part of a competitive 50-fixture schedule that stretches from May to mid-September each year.
Forthcoming highlights include the prestigious Manitoba Derby, the opening leg of the Western Canadian Derby Series, alongside other Listed stakes action. Other classic championship races comprise the Gold Cup, the Manitoba Matron and the Winnipeg Futurity, while there will also be multiple stakes contests for rising-star juveniles, beginning with the Debutante in July.
Accordingly, ASD now sits alongside other Canadian racetracks – such as Woodbine, Fort Erie and Hastings – on 1/ST CONTENT’s flexible program of top-quality action. This weekly timetable of engaging content, whose chronology naturally complements international racing coverage across varied time-zones from Europe to South Africa and Australia, provides 1/ST CONTENT’s global partners with a reliable source of fast-settling betting content at both primetime and off-peak viewing slots.
This progressive deal is emblematic of 1/ST CONTENT’s broader commitment to ensuring that North American racing’s stakeholders, whether they hail from the biggest tracks or overlooked regional diamonds, become the primary beneficiaries of revenues generated through international wagering.
As a result, 1/ST CONTENT stands alone as the proven pacesetter for live horse racing content, mapping approximately 80% of all North American racing, and providing rights, betting data, live broadcast and video streaming on behalf of its growing global portfolio of partners. Corralling low-latency feeds from thousands of annual meetings (and showcasing tens of thousands of races each year) North American racing is helping worldwide operators to engage untapped audiences by delivering 24/7 horse racing.
Darren Dunn, CEO of Assiniboia Downs, said: “The sheer distributional scope of 1/ST CONTENT’s international operator network is second to none. Therefore, it was a logical step for ASD to partner with them to distribute our upcoming calendar to a new legion of bettors outside Canada, thereby increasing returns to the core stakeholders of our domestic scene here in Winnipeg.”
Simon Fraser, Senior Vice President International at 1/ST CONTENT, added: “1/ST CONTENT is delighted to have added Assiniboia Downs to our all-encompassing North American roster, optimizing our wider Canadian content and introducing a fresh cohort of global racing fans to one of the true hidden gems in North America. ASD’s reliable off times and inimitable content, which sometimes shows events such as team-based bareback Indian Horse Relay racing, offers something different in an often homogenized marketplace.
“Observing other unsupportive models, we are more dedicated than ever to returning the value to racing’s stakeholders, who have historically missed out with grasping suppliers that return funds to non-racing organizations and simply aren’t committed to the sustainability and welfare of the sport.
“We look forward to delivering more coverage of high-class Canadian racing than ever before to fans and bettors around the world.”
Today is Duelbits’ exclusive inaugural live stream with The Notorious!
The stream will take place at 18:00 UTC and you will be able to join live on mcgregorlive.io
We would like to start off by inviting you to visit duelbits.com to register and start your rewards journey.
Make sure to opt-in for the Conor McGregor 30 day tournament with a grand $150,000 Prize Pool. Wager $100 or more and get ready for cash giveaways given out by The Notorious himself, during this live stream.
This is an opportunity you would not want to miss! The Notorious will be right here waiting to see if you’ve got what it takes to make it to the top of the leaderboard. Beat the best to be the best!
The post Exclusive Live Stream with Conor McGregor appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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