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Southampton FC scouting sports tech startups for Future of Football challenge

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The Future of Football challenge is open to innovative companies ready to shape and test their solutions for updated football experiences in either the football development or fan engagement space. In spirit with its values of innovation and doing things differently, Southampton FC will offer a 4-week virtual programme — powered by Sport Republic and Yolo Group — to create opportunities and break away from conventional methods.

The challenge welcomes Web3 and sports tech startups and scaleups with novel solutions to:

  • Football development (scouting, training, recovery, game analytics etc.)
  • Fan engagement (gamification, loyalty programmes, matchday experiences, global fan engagement etc.)

Selected teams will rapidly test and pilot their solutions, participate in tailored workshops, and have regular and direct access to Southampton FC, Sport Republic, and Yolo Group decision-makers. At the St. Mary’s finale, teams will pitch for a commercial relationship with SFC and a £100k discretionary prize pool for post-programme solution development.

“Southampton FC’s commitment to innovating and creating a positive impact is central to the way we operate and make decisions. We’re excited to see programme participants create the future of football” said Sarah Batters, Director of Marketing and Partnerships as SFC.

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Sport Republic, the owner of Southampton Football Club is a London-based investment firm in the sports and entertainment industry. Founded by Henrik Kraft and Rasmus Ankersen and backed by Lead Investor Dragan Šolak, Sport Republic’s vision is to grow high potential sports businesses and sports tech companies.

“Sport Republic are really looking forward to being part of the Future of Football challenge to power innovation in sports tech. We are continuously seeking the most innovative sports tech companies to join our portfolio and leveraging our clubs to drive growth and achieve digital transformation. ” said Henrik Kraft, Sport Republic and SFC Chairman.

Yolo Group is the managing partner for the Future of Football challenge. Yolo Group is a leader at the cross section of gaming, fintech, and blockchain, and operates the Sportsbet.io brand. Sportsbet.io is Southampton FC’s Main Club Partner.

“This programme is designed to push boundaries, to bring together a spectrum of solutions from startups around the globe. It’s a chance to create truly unique approaches — and test them. We’re driven by innovation; so, we’re looking forward to seeing the results,” said Tim Heath, GP at Yolo Investments, and founder of Yolo Group. The application deadline is 23 February 2023. Find more information and apply here: https://www.southamptonfc.com/saints-partners/future-of-football-challenge

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New ProgressPlay Brand Launches with Delasport’s Sportsbook

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Delasport, a leading global provider of iGaming and Sportsbook solutions, is powering up yet another brand with its advanced sportsbook. The award-winning solution is now integrated with ProgressPlay’s renowned gaming platform.

This collaboration underscores the shared commitment of both companies to innovation, excellence, and delivering unparalleled gaming experiences.

ProgressPlay, a pioneer in providing high-quality, fully tailored turnkey solutions since 2012, has consistently set industry standards. By integrating Delasport’s award-winning sportsbook solution, ProgressPlay continues to strengthen its offering, empowering operators with the most advanced sports betting solution in the UK and beyond.

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“We are happy with expanding our partnership further with ProgressPlay and to be live soon with them soon in the United Kingdom as well,” said Rosaire Cavallaro, VP of Business Development at Delasport. “ProgressPlay’s mission aligns perfectly with ours to innovate and redefine the online gaming experience. Together, we aim to help operators exceed player expectations and achieve remarkable success in sports betting.”

ProgressPlay’s platform offers a comprehensive suite of services mainly in the United Kingdom, including Operations, CRM, Gambling Licenses, Player Management, Payment Processing, and Customer Care, supported by robust security measures and a commitment to regulatory compliance.

By incorporating Delasport’s modern sportsbook solution, ProgressPlay partners in the UK and beyond, can now access an unmatched sports betting experience, designed to engage players with personalization, unique betting features, and a seamless multi-device experience.

The post New ProgressPlay Brand Launches with Delasport’s Sportsbook appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Sovrun’s Vision Meets Hyperliquid’s Infrastructure and Virtuals’ AI: A New Era for Gaming

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Sovrun’s vision takes a bold step forward with its groundbreaking milestone: one of the first gaming projects to secure a listing on Hyperliquid, a high-performance decentralized exchange redefining liquidity for digital assets.

Liquidity is the backbone of successful gaming economies. Hyperliquid is designed to not only deliver liquidity but also visibility for growing ecosystems, transforming game economies into robust financial systems.

Sovrun, formerly BreederDAO, helped define the rise of blockchain games by developing modular smart contracts that augmented, optimized, and automated in-game functionalities opening up unprecedented opportunities in gaming. Sovrun is well known for its Axie Infinity proprietary breeding bots that allowed them to supply over 120,000 in-game assets to 40,000 players, boosting player liquidity and driving growth.

In their next phase, Sovrun is empowering not only asset creation, but the co-creation of entire virtual worlds using blockchain, AI and modular infrastructure. Backed by prominent investors like a16z, Delphi Digital, Longhash and more, Sovrun is building an ecosystem where gaming communities can collaboratively create, govern, and evolve their digital experiences, broadening the possibilities of creator-driven economies.

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Securing a listing on HyperLiquid is just the first step as they plan to strategically build fully on-chain gaming within the cutting-edge infrastructure of HyperEVM, an upcoming component of the HyperLiquid ecosystem. Sovrun’s L2 testnet is now fully live, and is one of the first Layer2s on Hyperliquid. By integrating HyperLiquid’s institutional-grade infrastructure with Sovrun’s growing platform, the project is setting the stage for a seamless convergence of gaming, blockchain, and financial liquidity.

Sovrun and Virtuals Joint Venture

While the HyperLiquid partnership is turning heads, the joint venture between Virtuals Protocol and Sovrun, known as Ready Gamer, is set to power up gaming by integrating AI-powered experiences into web3 ecosystems. Imagine an RPG where NPCs remember your choices across in-game years, their attitudes shifting dynamically, or a strategy game where AI opponents learn and adapt to your tactics with every session. Virtuals’ GAME framework, a decision-making engine enabling AI agents with dynamic interaction, forms the foundation of this collaboration.

Together, Virtuals and Sovrun are delivering unscripted, personalized, and deeply immersive gaming experiences.

Autonomous Worlds (AW), or self-sustaining, player driven ecosystems, are the focus as Sovrun unlocks new dimensions of interaction and scalability, still sorely lacking in the gaming ecosystem. Through Sovrun’s AW architecture, players and creators can shape, grow, and evolve their virtual worlds making them genuine architects of their gaming experiences.

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Traditional games struggle with a heavy demand for fresh content, but AW offers a community led model where game elements can be continuously expanded and reshaped by the players themselves. But what exactly does that mean?

The Sovrun Participation Layer allows communities to engage and influence game economies, and Sovrun is acquiring assets of top projects like My Pet Hooligan, Pixels, and Azra Games to name a few. In the crowd-built virtual world EVE Frontier for example, Sovrun developed a system that allowed for the development of eSports ecosystems into the game itself.

Now, by integrating with HyperEVM, tapping into the HyperLiquid ecosystem, and partnering with Virtuals, Sovrun is amplifying its mission to create a self-sustaining ecosystem where creators don’t just participate in autonomous worlds—they build them. This collaboration ensures that Sovrun is not only positioned as a leader in Web3 gaming, but also as a catalyst for the global adoption of decentralized gaming economies. HyperEVM’s ability to support high-scale, on-chain transactions ensures Sovrun’s platform can meet the demands of a rapidly evolving digital economy while the joint venture with Virtuals adds an immersive layer of dynamic interactions set to reshape web3 gaming.

The post Sovrun’s Vision Meets Hyperliquid’s Infrastructure and Virtuals’ AI: A New Era for Gaming appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.

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Britbet and UK Tote Extend Partnership

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Britbet Racing LLP, a partnership of 55 British racecourses, has announced an extended commitment from its racecourse partners for the continued delivery of their oncourse pool betting service.

A key element to this commitment from racecourses comes from Britbet renewing a long-term partnership with the UK Tote Group that will deliver liquidity from the majority of its racecourse partners, including all Jockey Club racecourses and the large independent tracks, to the pools hosted by the Tote on racing taking place at these racecourses.

The renewed partnership will continue to provide a united approach to growing pool betting in the UK, with racecourses controlling the delivery of an oncourse service and the Tote providing the recognised brand and the off-course services, combining to create a single pool hosted by the Tote.

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The agreement between Britbet and the Tote will go live in November 2025 and will be in place until at least the end of October 2030, subject to a range of performance measures being met. The new partnership builds on the existing agreement which has been in place since October 2018. Over this time there has been significant growth and innovation in pool betting, with the launch of a dedicated Tote website and App, combined with more competitive pricing, including the introduction of Tote Guarantee in 2020 which ensures the Tote will always exceed or match the Industry Starting Price on Win bets.

Britbet commenced operating the pool betting service oncourse in July 2018. Oncourse turnover exceeded £72m in 2024, a 26% increase to that achieved in 2018. It has delivered this through a continued investment in its staff and the technology used to take the bets from racegoers. The key Tote Guarantee offering provides value back to customers, whilst oncourse specific innovations such as Lucky Pick wallets and Multiples, have all helped to drive increased customer engagement.

Under the operation of the UK Tote Group, the overall UK/Irish pool (the two pools were combined via an agreement with Horse Racing Ireland in April 2020) has increased by over 50% with 100,000 online active customers enjoying an ever-improving customer experience at tote.co.uk/ie. Through the existing deal the UK Tote Group has returned over £40 million to Britbet over the last five years, while investing over £100 million in the business to support the future growth of pool betting.

The post Britbet and UK Tote Extend Partnership appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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