Two of the biggest B2B firms in the gambling sector are at each other’s throats as Evolution and Playtech trade accusations of smear campaigns and illicit activity.

Stockholm-listed Evolution AB published a statement earlier today accusing Playtech of hiring Black Cube, an Israeli private intelligence company which bills itself as specialising ‘in high stake disputes’. Playtech subsequently acknowledged that it had commissioned Black Cube’s report.

Black Cube published the report earlier this year claiming that it had uncovered evidence of Evolution illegally operating in China, Iran and Sudan, where gambling is highly illegal, through an investigation between 2021 and 2023.

This followed allegations of misconduct including black and grey market activities which first emerged in 2021, with law firm Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP filing a suit in New Jersey on behalf of an ‘unnamed competitor’.

Evolution claims that it was able to identify Playtech as the unnamed competitor in question after securing a favourable ruling from the New Jersey Superior Court which declared Black Cube’s report and Calcagni & Kanafsky’s filing as defamatory.

“Although Playtech has finally been identified after years of trying to keep its involvement in this smear campaign a secret, Black Cube continues to evade the Court’s discovery orders by withholding relevant information,” Evolution’s statement read.

Evolution further alleges that Playtech commissioned Black Cube back in December 2020, paying the investigative firm £1.8m to conduct the report and subsequently leak conclusions to the media, with Bloomberg the first to cover the allegations of unlicensed activities.

The firm stated that ‘it is deeply disturbing to learn that one of our competitors has gone to such extraordinary lengths to damage our business and reputation’.

This afternoon, Evolution published a statement on the “unmasking of Playtech” and its smear campaign, noting: “ It is deeply disturbing to learn that one of our competitors has gone to such extraordinary lengths to damage our business and reputation by hiring Black Cube and paying them over 1.8 million GBP to fabricate a report they knew would have extremely harmful repercussions.”

Playtech is not taking Evolution’s accusations lying down, however….

Playtech hits back

Responding to Evolution’s allegations quickly, Playtech has not denied that it commissioned a report, stating that it ‘stands by’ its decision to do so and maintaining the report’s conclusion that Evolution “practices undermine lawful and compliant gambling operations”.

it has not, however, stated whether or not the report it commissioned was specifically conducted by Black Cube, instead confirming that an ‘independent business intelligence firm’ carried out the investigation based on concerns raised by operators, suppliers and regulators.

“Such conduct damages trust in the credibility of the entire industry and also ultimately impacts government tax collection,” Playtech’s statement read, accusing Evolution of conduct with wider implications for the gambling industry at a time when tax revenue is high on everyone’s agenda.

The statement continued: “Evolution continues to seek to avoid legitimate scrutiny rather than address longstanding questions about its conduct, including its decision to supply operators in illegal markets and to support unlicensed operators in regulated markets.”

Both Playtech and Evolution seem more than prepared to meet each other in the courtroom, and all the evidence suggests that a legal showdown between the two is on the horizon.

Evolution’s statement explained that the firm intends to ‘continue to hold Black Cube, Playtech, and all the other players in this defamatory scheme responsible for their misconduct’.

“We are confident in our legal position and look forward to finally holding Playtech and its accomplices to account for the significant harm they have caused,” the company boldly concluded.

Evolution’s confidence in legal success comes from the fact that it has already secured some regulatory wins. Evolution’s suit against Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP and the-then-unnamed Playtech led to the New Jersey Superior Court concluding that ‘false allegations’ were made against the Stockholm company.

Playtech appears unfazed, however, and its response appears to be in the vein of ‘bring it on’ – though the firm has not used these words verbatim. The company concluded its own statement by declaring that it welcomes court examination of the Black Cube report and its findings.

Just as Evolution is confident that it will be able to prove that the Black Cube report was defamatory in court, Playtech declared that it is “confident that these proceedings will confirm the credibility and legitimacy of the investigation and the importance of the issues it seeks to address”.

The revelation of Playtech’s role Black Cube’s Evolution report has already had some negative consequences on the firm. Since the “unmasking”, Playtech’s share price has tumbled nearly 25%, plunging to 258p as investors reacted sharply to the revelations. The sell-off erased roughly £300m in shareholder value.

This comes amid a refocusing of the company’s efforts, with it transitioning to becoming a solely B2B enterprise in 2025, and after putting to bed another legal dispute, this one involving Mexican firm Caliente regarding the duo’s joint venture, Caliplay.

Playtech’s actions have been lambasted by some industry observers. Ironically, while Playtech accuses Evolution of unlicensed activity bringing the industry into disrepute, this same criticism has now levied against the LSE company for commissioning the Black Cube probe.

“The online gambling industry does not need any more help to make itself look dishonest and rather smelly,” read an assessment made by Regulus Partners, a strategic advisory business with interests in the gambling space.

“This latest revelation is simply grist to the mill that the industry as a whole cannot really be trusted to do the right thing even though the majority of operators and suppliers are decent companies staffed by decent people trying to provide a decent product.

“An industry that can only thrive with its social contract intact simply cannot behave like this – it is worse than tone-deaf from a corporate perspective, it is self-defeating for the whole industry, which Playtech’s clients are also no doubt reflecting on.”

A win against Evolution in the courts may be of even greater significance to Playtech given these circumstances, should the duo’s war of words escalate into a battle of legal briefs.