Walking into the racetrack at Santa Anita on Saturday was more like walking into a sophisticated Hollywood mansion party than a gambling venue.

Santa Anita went ‘all in’ by throwing one heck of a horse racing celebration aimed at attracting a young, stylish group of fans. There was a thrilling three-horse photo finish in The California Crown $1 million stakes race, but the crowd was there to party and mingle first, cocktail and dine second, and maybe add in a bit of old-fashioned horse race gambling too.

SGG Media, the leading sports social media marketing agency, was one of the selected advertising partners to ensure the word got out about this ‘must attend’ L.A. event.

SGG’s young CEO, Troy Paul, (age 27) knew just what to do – by arranging seating and private boxes for six of his top L.A.-based social media Influencers and their 10 million social media followers. The value of SGG Media’s in-depth understanding of how to interact with younger fans certainly came to the fore in the run-up to the race, with the company’s clever strategic planning creating one million event-focused social media impressions that helped draw fans into the action.

SGG Media has a strong track record for promoting top sporting events by using its extensive network of 2,500 sports micro-influencer content creators and their 75 million sports fan followers – and Troy is certainly no stranger to the racetrack either, having begun attending races with his dad at the age of four before going on to visit major races such as the Derby and the Belmont.

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Troy Paul, Chief Executive Officer at SGG Media, said: “Santa Anita threw one great race day party, bringing guests food from L.A.’s trendiest restaurants such as Funke and Wally’s while also giving them the chance to dance to first-class entertainment from star artists including Shaboozey.

“From SGG’s perspective, we’re thrilled to bring younger fans to events like this by showing them the excitement and beauty of horse races in stunning venues like Santa Anita, so we’re happy with the buzz we could create around what was a stunning party and an exciting day at the races.”

Peter Rotondo, Senior Vice President at 1/ST Racing, said: “California Crown was a huge success that featured top quality stakes horses, drew over 21,000 fans and generated total national wagering of nearly $24 million dollars”.

International Game Technology PLC announced that its subsidiary, IGT Global Solutions Corporation, signed a 10-year contract extension with the North Carolina Education Lottery (NCEL). The contract extension will begin July 1, 2027, and run through June 2037. The NCEL has been a valued IGT customer since the Lottery began in 2006.

Under the terms of the agreement, IGT will deploy its high-performing Aurora central system, a feature component of IGT’s integrated lottery solution, OMNIA. Additionally, IGT will provide upgraded Wizard back-office business applications, up to 8500 newly launched Retailer Pro S2 terminals, 500 GameTouch 28 self-service vending machines, 2000 lottery play centers, 4000 Jackpot signs, a dual cellular communication network, and expanded testing capabilities for the NCEL.

“IGT has been a trusted partner to the NCEL for more than 18 years, supporting our consistent growth and record-breaking sales. Supporting public education is our mission, and we now raise more than $1 billion a year for our state. We look forward to extending our strong relationship with IGT. The new technology that IGT will provide will help the lottery continue to responsibly increase sales and our contributions to North Carolina,” said Mark Michalko, CEO and Executive Director of the N.C. Education Lottery.

“The NCEL is among the top 10 most successful lotteries in the U.S., and IGT is excited to upgrade its retail technology with our high-performing solutions, and help it drive sales growth. IGT’s future-forward technology will provide the systems and equipment needed for the NCEL to work effectively and efficiently for its players, its retail partners, and the good causes it serves,” said Jay Gendron, IGT Chief Operating Officer Global Lottery.

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IGT’s Aurora platform and related components were developed to drive lottery innovation and profitability. This technology will provide the NCEL with intuitive, user-friendly applications, tools, and reporting capabilities. Components of Aurora, including Performance Wizard, Sales Wizard, Learning Wizard, and Retailer Wizard will streamline operations for optimal functionality. The introduction of IGT’s high-performance, high-volume Retailer Pro S2 terminals will enable the NCEL to easily add new features across multiple point-of-sale terminals simultaneously.