Lottery.com confirms new chair, appoints Quraeshi as permanent CEO

Quraeshi was brought in on an interim basis last month and had also been serving on the board of directors. He will now take on the role permanently.

McGahan, who joined Lottery.com as an independent director of its board in October, will step up into the position of chairman. 

Prior to this, McGahan founded UK charity Mask Our Heroes in response to the need for personal protective equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic. The charity procured and shipped masks to the UK. He also founded – and later sold – Harley-Davidson dealer Magic Automotive Group.

McGahan replaces Richard Kivel who, earlier this week, resigned as chairman saying it had become “impossible” to perform as an independent director as his efforts to turn round the fortunes of the business had been “aggressively obstructed”.

In a damning resignation letter, Kivel made a number of accusations against the business, including that emergency funding from Woodford Eurasia had not arrived, with no sign of it forthcoming, and that the chief compliance officer of Lottery.com was under FBI investigation.

Kivel also claimed he had been forced out as chair and learned that McGahan intended to appoint two individuals he said are not suitable and are conflicted, thereby stacking the board in the new investors’ interest.

Though Kivel did not disclose the identity of these individuals, Lottery.com did confirm that in addition to McGahan becoming chairman, it had appointed Barney Battles and Naila Chowdhury as new board members.

Battles is the founder of The League of Angels, a network of ultra-high-net-worth international members investing in fast growth British ventures with a global impact and strong corporate values. He is also the former co-owner of Jackpot Games, a Maltese online gaming venture that was sold to a large German media group, and the former senior advisor to Rank Group.

Chowdhury has 25 years of leadership experience in senior management in private, public and non-profit organisations around the world. She is co-founder and former chief executive of “Pillar 4 Dignity”, which supports and empowers underserved women and girls worldwide who face social and economic challenges. 

“I would like to welcome all the new directors to the board and am delighted at Matthew’s appointment to chairman,” Quraeshi said. “Each of them brings considerable and relevant experience, which will substantially enhance our senior leadership team, compliance, CSR and strategic capability. 

“These appointments are a crucial next step as we complete the turnaround of the business and implement a strategy for future growth.”

The appointments mark the latest changes in what has been a turbulent time for Lottery.com in recent months.

Much of the group’s troubles began when, after sacking its president and CFO in response to discovering instances of non-compliance with state and federal laws, the business also found that its cash holdings were overstated by $30m.

Further struggles became apparent when it said it was not able to pay employee wages and admitted in an SEC filing that as of 29 July 2022 it owed $425,000 in outstanding pay.

In an attempt to improve its situation, Lottery.com recently attempted to obtain funding from Woodford Eurasia, a subsidiary of investment firm United International Holdings Netherlands BV. 

This investor demanded that four of the five remaining members of the Lottery.com board resign as part of the terms of the loan. This led to two board members quitting in protest after claiming the company deliberately “thwarted” attempts to look into “red flags” raised regarding the new investor.

It was amid this turmoil that Armanino resigned as auditors and was replaced by Yusufali & Associates LLC last month.