Daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings has hired a new ‘Head of Sportsbook,’ further undermining the façade that the company is most definitely not in the business of gambling.

On Monday, DraftKings issued a statement hailing the hiring of Sean Hurley to “help build, launch and drive the sports betting vertical at DraftKings.” Hurley will be based out of DraftKings’ newly opened office in Hoboken, New Jersey, and will report to co-founder and chief revenue officer Matt Kalish.

Kalish said Hurley, who joined DraftKings following a year-plus stint as head of commercial for UK B2B sports betting technology supplier Amelco and three years with boutique online sportsbook and casino provider Whale Global, “brings a wealth of gaming experience to DraftKings and furthers our ability to be a leader in the sports betting market.”

DraftKings has long maintained the fiction that its DFS activities aren’t gambling in the strictest legal sense, but while that stance may have kept its owners out of jail, it also hasn’t allowed the company to get into activities that might actually allow DraftKings to turn a profit.

Malta’s prime minister insists that the local gaming regulator is doing a good job monitoring its licensees, despite media reports to the contrary.

Late last week, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was queried in parliament regarding the recent wave of bad publicity involving the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) and some of its Italian-facing online gambling licensees.

Muscat (pictured0 was responding to a list of questions submitted by Partit Demokratiku MP Godfrey Farrugia, who wanted to know why the MGA only seemed to act against Italian licensees after the Italian police launched waves of arrests. Case in point: February’s bust of ‘betting king’ Benedetto Bacchi, which led the MGA to suspend the license of Bacchi’s Phoenix International Ltd one day later.

Farrugia asked Muscat to explain “what failed” in the current monitoring policies that allowed Phoenix to obtain and maintain its MGA license, and whether these monitoring policies had changed following Bacchi’s arrest.

Lottery betting operators are mounting a legal challenge of the UK government’s plan to bar them from offering markets on non-UK EuroMillions lottery draws.

Last November, the UK government announced the results of a consultation that convinced the government to “introduce a new license condition to prohibit consumers in Great Britain from placing bets on EuroMillions games which take place outside the UK.”

The new license condition, which is set to take effect on April 6, was immediately decried by UK-licensed lottery betting operators such as Lottoland. The Lotto Betting Group (LBG), an umbrella group encompassing Lottoland and rivals World Lottery Club, Jackpot.com and Multilotto, has now indicated its willingness to challenge the “irrational” and “unreasonable” proposal in court.

The LBG has submitted a “letter before claim” for a judicial review of the license condition to Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) secretary Matt Hancock. The LBG maintains that the new condition violates the trade laws of the European Union, of which the UK is (for the moment) still a member.

Struggling Macau luxury hotel project The 13 Holdings is hoping to attract fresh investment by announcing plans to launch casino gaming operations next year.

On Sunday, The 13 Holdings Ltd informed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it now plans to launch casino and retail shopping operations at its in-development luxury hotel project of the same name no earlier than March 31, 2019.

The announcement came as the company announced plans to raise additional capital via a new rights issue. The company says it needs an additional HK$973m (US$124.4m) to complete the unfinished hotel, which has undergone numerous financial setbacks over the past year.

Conceived as the ultimate gambling hideaway for the Asia-Pacific region’s über-wealthy during the Macau casino market’s pre-2014 heyday, the property’s raison d’être looked increasingly dubious after China began cracking down on corruption and on capital flow to Macau casinos.

Week 28 of the English Premier League sees the race for the Champions League hot up with Man Utd beating Chelsea at Old Trafford, and Liverpool scoring another four, this time at West Ham.

The Premier League Big Six.

Win the league?

Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea harbour hopes.

Stung by a drop in operating profit and a lower than expected VIP win rate, casino and resorts operator Genting Singapore Plc reported a 16.6 percent net profit tumble in the fourth quarter of 2017.

In a filing before the Singapore Stock Exchange, Genting Singapore announced that its net profit for the last three months of 2017 slowed to SGD132.79 million (US$101 million) versus SGD159.19 million ($120.95 million) in 2016.

While its gross gaming revenue increased by 4.7 percent to SGD417.6 million in the fourth quarter, Genting said it wasn’t enough to offset the lower than expected VIP win rate and higher operating costs.

For the October to December 31, 2017 period, Genting said that its operating profit dropped 24.1 percent to SGD179.1 million ($136.07 million).

State-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is rolling out a new monitoring system that it says will keep a close watch on how online betting firms are truly earning.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that PAGCOR will launch a “third party audit service” that will promote transparency for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) licensees, particularly in terms of their revenue streams.

PAGCOR chair Andrea Domingo is optimistic that the new computer system will ensure the quality of the services of POGO firms to foreign bettors. She said the new system is currently in the final stages of integration and expects it to be up and running in March.

“It is important to note that the audit service provider will not get paid if their service does not yield increases in revenues,” Domingo said, according to the new outlet.

The all-male Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) may soon have a female member after the Senate recently approved a bill that will add two more seats in the agency.

The Marianas Variety reported that members of Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 20-87 which will pave the way for the appointment of a female and a person of Carolinian descent to the CCC.

Under the present setup, the all-male CCC is composed of three members representing Saipan and representatives from Rota and Tinian: Board Chairman Juan M. Sablan, Joseph Reyes, Alvaro Santos, Justin Manglona, and Martin San Nicolas.

SB20-87, which was introduced by Sen. Justo Quitugua, was sent to the House of Representatives last week. In pushing for the additional members of CCC, Quitugua pointed out that there’s a constitutional mandate that every board or commission should have at least one Carolinian member and a female member.