Playtech has defended its choice to hire private intelligence firm Black Cube to investigate Evolution, after the live casino provider revealed that Playtech was the...
Evolution reveals Playtech behind false report from 2021
One of the world’s leading providers of live casino games, Evolution AB, has revealed shocking news about a false and damaging report from 2021, announcing that the company behind it was none other than its competitor, Playtech Software Limited, a subsidiary of Playtech Plc.
The report, created by the private investigation firm Black Cube, cost more than £1.8 million and contained false claims about Evolution’s business practices. It was designed to harm Evolution’s reputation and give a competitive advantage to Playtech.
Black Cube used dishonest methods to create the report, starting from secretly recording meetings with current and former Evolution employees to using fake identities for spreading misleading information. Those interviewed in the report have publicly announced that their statements were misrepresented.
Commenting on the news, an Evolution spokesperson told NEXT.io:
“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 £1.8m to fabricate a report they knew would have extremely harmful repercussions.
The report, which was furnished to regulators by a law firm representing Black Cube, Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP, and purposely leaked to the media, was determined by two state regulators in the US to be lacking in evidentiary support.
“Later, the New Jersey Superior Court also determined that the defamatory report was untruthful and lacked veracity. Notwithstanding those findings, dissemination of the report has resulted in multi-billion-dollar damage to our company.”
Regulatory side
U.S. state regulators reviewed the report and found it lacked evidence. Later, the New Jersey Superior Court confirmed that the report was untrue. However, despite this, false claims caused huge financial and reputational damage to Evolution.
Evolution initially sued the law firm representing Black Cube in 2021. After years of investigation, the court confirmed that the report was intentionally false and harmful and ordered the responsible parties to be revealed. Playtech’s involvement has now come to light, though Black Cube continues to withhold some information.
The Evolution spokesperson added:
“We never wanted to believe our adversary was a competitor, as it harms the reputation of the gaming industry as a whole. We are angry, and we are sad. It is a bad day for the industry.”
As a result, Evolution will continue to hold Playtech, Black Cube, and others accountable.
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