Evolution And Playtech Engulfed In Dramatic Row Over ‘Smear Campaign’
Evolution has accused its iGaming rival Playtech of commissioning a damaging report into its business practices, which the company described as being part of a “smear campaign”.
According to Evolution, Playtech was the company behind the infamous 2021 report, which was produced by the investigation firm Black Cube. Evolution says Playtech paid more than £1.8 million to Black Cube to produce the report, with the explicit aim of damaging an industry rival.
The two companies are among the biggest in the world of iGaming, with each producing hundreds of games that can be played on global online casinos. Evolution specialises in producing live casino games, while Playtech has traditionally had more of a focus on slots.
In a statement released on October 21, Evolution said that the Black Cube report had been determined by a pair of US state regulators in the U.S. to be “lacking in evidentiary support”.
Evolution noted that it was also determined by the New Jersey Superior Court that the “defamatory report was untruthful and lacked veracity”. Regardless of those findings, Evolution says the spreading of the Black Cube report led to “multi-billion dollar damage to our company”.
Deceitful Methods
Evolution went into more detail about how the company feels that the 2021 report was flawed.
Its statement said:
Black Cube has a well-documented history of using deceitful methods to sway public opinion by launching smear campaigns on behalf of its clients.
As part of its so-called investigation, Black Cube used highly unethical tactics, including initiating meetings with current and former Evolution employees and board members under false pretenses and secretly recording those interactions; using disguises and falsified identities; and cherry picking edited recordings to fabricate evidence to achieve its desired, false narrative.
It is notable that the subjects of Black Cube’s report disavowed the allegations and said the report entirely misrepresented their comments.
Evolution pointed out it is taking legal action against the report, with Playtech set to be included in the latest litigation, which means that the row between the two companies will rumble on.
The iGaming business rivals appear unlikely to be making up any time soon
Playtech Refutes Evolution Claims
Within a matter of hours, Playtech had hit back at its rival’s claims over the 2021 report.
In its own statement, Playtech said that the investigation was “undertaken lawfully” but accepted that it had “commissioned an independent business intelligence firm” to assess Evolution.
Playtech explained the decision was made to do this over “credible and repeated concerns” over Evolution’s business practices, including supplying to “unlicensed operators”.
The statement from Playtech released on October 22 said:
The report published, as a result of the investigation, clearly evidences that Evolution’s business practices undermine lawful and compliant gambling operations. Such conduct damages trust in the credibility of the entire industry and also ultimately impacts government tax collection.
Playtech stressed that the company stands by the move to create the Black Cube report.
Its statement said:
Playtech welcomes court examination of the report and its findings. Playtech is confident that these proceedings will confirm the credibility and legitimacy of the investigation and the importance of the issues it seeks to address.
However, the story appears to have been highly damaging to Playtech according to the stock market, with its share price dropping heavily in the wake of the initial Evolution statement.
Playtech’s stocks dived by more than a third (38%) during Tuesday’s trading session.
Sources:
- https://mb.cision.com/Main/12069/4253584/3734036.pdf
- https://www.gamingintelligence.com/legal/221433-playtech-shares-plummet-as-evolution-names-company-in-report-scandal/
- https://readwrite.com/playtech-denies-evolution-black-cube-report-stock-price-plummets/
- https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/quote/PTEC.L/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALB761O005jhHZq3xk6U9j9PNbxYMF9Cb3u4H_RYQVXr1Uqe25vwehRch7QYF-IYskwUzfEmb8O1K49FQteNJzA5-bMzraKrQeRIr0x755ffLPjbuwX8wN03Qlw5TcTvCJuemeTgupca81RpFz4tLZPj5NmEuHpBSjecobF2tFKh
- https://www.reuters.com/business/playtech-shares-plunge-evolution-links-rival-smear-report-2025-10-21/
