DraftKings hires Head of Sportsbook; Bookmakers set odds for 2018 MLB season

Each Friday, we’ll comb through as many articles, tweets and podcasts as we can find related to the world of sports betting and daily fantasy sports, and publish the good stuff here. 

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DraftKings looks to be expanding from daily fantasy sports to sports betting with the announced hiring of a Head of Sportsbook.

DraftKings, Inc. today announced Sean Hurley has been hired as the new Head of Sportsbook to help build, launch and drive the sports betting vertical at DraftKings. In this newly created role, Hurley will report to Chief Revenue Officer and co-founder, Matt Kalish.

“Sean brings a wealth of gaming experience to DraftKings and furthers our ability to be a leader in the sports betting market,” said Kalish.

Hurley will be based in DraftKings’ newly opened office in Hoboken, New Jersey. He will focus on preparing Sportsbook as a potential new line of business for DraftKings in anticipation of the pending Supreme Court decision in Christie v. National Collegiate Athletic Association.


Ahead of the 2018 MLB season, ESPN Chalk compiled regular season win totals and odds for each team to win the World Series, their division or make the playoffs.

The defending World Series champion Houston Astros stand as the co-favorite to win the 2018 World Series at 5-1 (along with the Los Angeles Dodgers) and lead the MLB with the highest win total at 96.5. Here is a look at complete odds for the 2018 season, including win totals, World Series odds, division title odds and odds to make the playoffs.


The St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals have said they would want a 1 percent integrity fee if sports betting were to become legalized in Missouri.

Mike Winter, executive director of the Missouri Gaming Association, which represents the state’s 13 casinos, said sports betting has a low profit margin. The casinos are more interested in legalizing it in order to draw people to the casino.

“We don’t see this as a huge panacea for us,” Winter said.

“I think that it will bring more viewers to watch sporting events,” added Brent Hemphill, lobbyist for Penn National Gaming.