Playtech has argued that the Spectrum Report commissioned by Evolution has validated the claims made by Black Cube amid the ongoing litigation between the supplier and the Israeli private intelligence firm.
The legal dispute between the pair dates back to October 2025, when Evolution accused Playtech of commissioning an investigation by Black Cube which contained “highly inflammatory and knowingly false claims”.
The report was made public by law firm Calcagni & Kanefsky, leading the Swedish live casino and slots supplier to seek legal action for defamation.
In a filing on Tuesday, 8 September, Black Cube submitted findings from another report compiled by US-based consultancy firm Spectrum Gaming Group.
Playtech attests that the findings in the ‘Spectrum Report’, commissioned by Evolution, back up the initial claims made by Black Cube which led to the lawsuit.
Such claims, the London-listed supplier said, include “concerns around the availability of Evolution’s games in certain prohibited markets, the regulatory implications of its practices, and the lack of proactive monitoring of its customers”.
Black Cube’s initial investigation alleged Evolution’s games were available in black markets such as Sudan, Syria and Iran. The Spectrum Report was unable to confirm or repute if this was the case.
Investigators for Black Cube were allegedly also able to access Evolution games in Singapore and Hong Kong where online gambling is also illegal, in addition to the supplier reportedly using unlicensed third parties to offer its content in Spain, Italy and Sweden.
Playtech also claims that Evolution fought to keep the contents of the Spectrum Report under wraps due to the fact that it ended up corroborating the assertions made by Black Cube.
A Playtech statement said: “For months, Evolution has publicly characterised the Spectrum Report as exonerating it. Yet, at the same time, Evolution consistently refused to make the report available to the public, purportedly on the basis that disclosure could reveal sensitive proprietary financial information.
“Now that the Spectrum Report is publicly available, it is clear both why the Spectrum Report has become so important in the US litigation – and why Evolution fought so hard to keep it confidential.
“Although Evolution commissioned the Spectrum Report, Spectrum specifically corroborate several of Black Cube’s key findings and was unable to confirm or refute others, as Evolution failed to provide Spectrum with significant information it had requested.
“This included, for example, data that would allow Spectrum to determine whether gaming sessions occurred in Iran, Syria and Sudan, as well as the revenue reports for those jurisdictions.
“The failure to provide that information prevented Spectrum from completing critical parts of its investigation, meaning Evolution still has serious questions to answer around the availability of its games in prohibited markets.”
Evolution declined to comment when approached by EGR.
Report findings
The Spectrum Report appeared to confirm Black Cube’s assertions that Evolution’s games could be accessed in black market territories.
It stated: “We were able to specifically corroborate the accusations regarding the use of Evolution’s games in regions such as Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates (‘UAE’) and Saudi Arabia…”
“Evolution expressly prohibited such game play in specified regions, but our investigation revealed that certain clients had allowed for Evolution’s game content to be provided on their online gaming websites in clear violation of their contracts.
“Spectrum’s investigators were able to place bets and play Evolution’s games with such online operators as bitcasino.com and stake.com by using a VPN using IPs associated with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Singapore, where gaming licences are unavailable. These regions all have laws prohibiting online gaming.”
The report also suggested Evolution was able to generate revenue from its games being played in such countries.
“Notably, Evolution does not engage in any ongoing review of the actions of its clients, or of the sub-licensees, to monitor and assess compliance with the terms and conditions of the contracts, particularly as they relate to conducting business operations in markets designated as prohibited in the contracts. As a result, Evolution’s games may be accessible in prohibited venues in violation of the contract terms.”
“We note that Evolution has not taken any remedial action since the allegations of wrongdoing surfaced to block those particular sites or jurisdictions or to enforce their contracts with their clients with respect to this activity.”
Regarding claims that Evolution’s games were available in Sudan, Syria, and Iran, Spectrum didn’t receive the necessary information to confirm if this was true.
“Spectrum was not able to accomplish one of the objectives of this report, which was to confirm or refute whether the gambling sessions from the countries indicated in the anonymous report actually occurred.”
“Evolution did not provide the requested personal data information for the seven identified gambling sessions [in the Black Cube Report]. This contributed to Spectrum’s inability to accomplish an objective of this report, which was to confirm or refute whether the gambling sessions from the countries indicated in the anonymous report actually occurred.”
Regarding Black Cube’s claim that Evolution doesn’t carry out sufficient compliance checks for its partners, Spectrum noted: “Evolution does not take any proactive steps to ensure that the operators are complying with the terms of the contracts, including AML, KYC, and local statutes or regulations.
“In our judgement, this is a significant compliance issue. Evolution does not monitor the KYC and AML procedures of its B2B clients, and its inattentiveness in this regard is problematic.”
Black Cube also claimed Evolution’s operators “accept cash and bitcoin payments from end-users playing their games, which means Evolution receives cash and other payments, violating Evolution’s AML policies.
The report added: “Spectrum confirmed that wagers were made by end users using virtual currency. “Any bet being placed on any of Evolution’s games must be in fiat currencies only. However, the gambling sessions on the 75-page spreadsheet appears to indicate that bets are being placed in virtual currencies.”
“It appears that approximately 11.5% of the gambling sessions on this spreadsheet were conducted using these four virtual currencies,” Spectrum said.
“According to Evolution’s contractual terms and conditions, players using virtual currencies would require enhanced AML and KYC procedures by the operators […] Evolution does not review the operator’s compliance with this requirement of enhanced due diligence.”
Double down
Playtech praised the fact the Spectrum Report has been made public and doubled down on its decision to commission the initial Black Cube report.
The statement continued: “Spectrum reported that Evolution ‘does not take any proactive steps’ to ensure that the customer-facing gambling operators using its products ‘are complying with the terms of the contracts’.
“It is evident that Evolution’s concern around the release of the Spectrum Report was not related to sensitive proprietary financial information as Evolution argued, but instead, the corroboration of its ‘significant’ compliance issues, which according to the Spectrum Report, are ‘problematic’ and ‘place Evolution in a precarious situation with law enforcement officials’.
“Playtech is pleased that the Spectrum Report is now public, and welcomes the opportunity for the court, regulatory authorities and other stakeholders to review the document in its entirety.
“Playtech stands by its decision to commission the original Black Cube investigation. The company remains very confident that the court proceedings will confirm the credibility and legitimacy thereof and the significant concerns it raised.”
In June, the Superior Court of New Jersey denied Evolution’s request to add Playtech as an additional defendant to the Black Cube case.
This ensured that Evolution will have to go through with its existing Uniform Public Expression Protection Act (UPEPA) hearing with Black Cube and law firm Calcagni & Kanefsky in November 2026.
Evolution could still choose to take further action against Playtech upon completion of the hearing.
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement ruled in February 2024 that Evolution had not operated in prohibited jurisdictions.
Playtech shares are down 1.3% in early trading to 399p at the time of writing, while Evolution shares are flat at SEK858 (£66).
In July, the Gambling Commission confirmed Evolution will pay a £4.75m settlement after its games were found on sites belonging to two unlicensed operators targeting the UK. The regulator had considered suspending Evolution’s licence.
Last month, Evolution’s board urged shareholders to reject a SEK131.7bn mandatory offer by billionaire Kenneth Dart take Evolution private.
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FTSE 250 firm insists the Evolution-commissioned Spectrum Report leaves the Swedish live casino giant with “serious questions to answer around the availability of its games in prohibited markets”
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