Casino mogul Steve Wynn’s sexual harassment settlement with a female Wynn Resorts staffer reportedly involved a paternity claim, according to Bloomberg sources.

On Friday, Bloomberg reported that the 2005 payment of $7.5m by Wynn to a former manicurist at Wynn Las Vegas involved a paternity claim by the woman. Sources claimed that Wynn made the payment because he didn’t want the allegations to become a distraction to Wynn’s ongoing expansion in Las Vegas and Macau.

Steve Wynn and Wynn Resorts have vehemently denied last week’s bombshell Wall Street Journal report that detailed decades worth of sexual harassment allegations against the casino titan.

The reports led to a significant decline in the value of Wynn Resorts stock and have prompted regulators in Nevada, Macau and Massachusetts to launch investigations to determine Wynn’s suitability to continue casino operations in their respective jurisdictions.

Malta’s gaming regulator has suspended the license of an online gambling operator linked to an Italian anti-mafia police action.

On Friday, the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) announced that it had suspended the Class 2 remote gaming license of Phoenix International Ltd, which operated several online betting sites, including B2875.com, Bsport24.com and B28sport.com, none of which are currently accessible.

The suspension follows Thursday’s raids on dozens of internet cafés by Italian police, in a Palermo-centered anti-mafia operation dubbed Game Over. Among the 23 individuals arrested on Thursday was B2875 owner Benedetto Bacchi, the so-called ‘betting king’ who reportedly controlled a network of 700 betting shops across Italy.

Bacchi’s betting shops – officially ‘data transmission centers’ or CTDs – featured terminals that connected to the Malta-licensed Phoenix gambling sites. The unauthorized operations reportedly generated undeclared revenue of €1m each month, with a chunk of that sum allegedly kicked back to Cosa Nostra members.

Portugal’s online poker players have been given the green light to start sharing liquidity with their counterparts in France and Spain, after the country approved the necessary regulations.

On Thursday, the Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ) regulatory body approved regulations governing the technical requirements for Portuguese-licensed online poker sites – i.e. The Stars Group’s PokerStars – to share liquidity with sites in the regulated online gambling markets of France and Spain.

The new regulations were published in the official Diàrio de Republica and are set to take effect one day later, meaning PokerStars players in France, Portugal and Spain could all be splashing about in one big happy pool by the weekend, although Stars execs said just last week that a “Q2 launch” was more realistic.

PokerStars launched its French-Spanish pool last month, and players in non-regulated European Union markets and beyond were allowed to join in the fun by registering via Stars’ Spanish-licensed site. Reaction to this influx of international players has been mixed, due to an allegedly higher proportion of sharp players making the French-Spanish games tougher to beat.

Will Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) for February be robust or will it be a bust?

International analysts are apparently divided on whether Macau casino will be able to pull another double-digit growth this month after a better-than-expected January GGR.

On Thursday, Japanese credit debt watcher Nomura and investment brokerage Morgan Stanley have expressed optimism that Macau’s February casino revenue will grow more than 10 percent.

Analysts from Nomura predicted that Macau’s GGR will climb 15 percent this month on the back of the expected opening of the HKD27 billion ($3.45 billion) MGM Cotai.

China’s southern province of Hainan may give Macau a run for its money in the future as the government starts to draft a proposal that will pave the way for legal gambling on the island.

Bloomberg reported that the Chinese government is considering allowing online gaming, lottery, and sports betting, as well as opening the door to brick-and-mortar casinos in a bid to draw more foreign tourists in the island.

China has prohibited gambling in mainland China—even selling lottery tickets must have the approval of the Chinese government.

In 2014, Chinese President Xi Jingping has launched a corruption crackdown that resulted in a two-year revenue rut for Asia’s premier gambling hub. The Chinese government has also imposed new rules last year that prohibits investments in the gambling industry.

888Poker has parted ways with their Brazilian ambassador, Bruno Kawauti, and February sees the reemergence of the New Jersey Poker Classic with $800,000 in guaranteed prize money.

It’s not only the owls that come to life in the night. The silent drift showing off the serene splendour of their span. The poker players also emerge from the labyrinths of the city. A swollen world sunk into a sequinned siesta. It’s time to play.

In Brazil, four people follow the fanfare of gigantic trumpets pumping out the 888 tune.

Denilson