Playtech–Evolution affair
| Playtech–Evolution affair
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Commissioned undercover investigation of a business rival, followed by regulatory complaints, press coverage and defamation litigation |
| Date | December 2020 – present |
| Location | New Jersey and Pennsylvania (regulators); Superior Court of New Jersey, Atlantic County (litigation) |
| Participants | Playtech (through Playtech Software Ltd, client); Black Cube (investigator); Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP (law firm that filed the report) |
| Victims | Evolution AB, the Swedish live-casino supplier (target) |
| Court | Superior Court of New Jersey (Judge John C. Porto; special adjudicator Robert Kugler) |
| Regulator | New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement; Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board |
| Inquiry status | Ongoing. Hearing under New Jersey's anti-SLAPP law (UPEPA) scheduled for November 2026 |
| Outcome | Both regulators closed their investigations in February 2024 without action. Evolution's defamation suit continues |
The Playtech–Evolution affair is the dispute arising from a 2021 Black Cube report, commissioned by the London-listed gambling-technology company Playtech, which accused its Swedish rival Evolution AB of offering games in prohibited markets. Black Cube operatives used false identities to record Evolution staff. The report was sent to US regulators and leaked to the press, and the regulators took no action. In 2025 court filings in Evolution's defamation suit revealed Playtech as the client and showed fees to Black Cube of more than £1.8 million.
The case is unusually well documented because discovery in Evolution's New Jersey lawsuit forced out Black Cube's fee arrangements, including deposition evidence from its co-founder Avi Yanus. Much of the published detail comes from Evolution's own filings and press releases. It is therefore partisan, and is attributed as such below. Black Cube and Playtech stand by the report.[1][2]
The investigation
According to Evolution, Playtech hired Black Cube in December 2020, and senior Playtech executives, including chief executive Mor Weizer, communicated with the firm about the work.[1] Moneycontrol, summarising the Financial Times, dates the hiring to 2021. It says Playtech's brief was to find evidence of wrongdoing that could trigger legal or regulatory action against its rival.[2][3]
During 2021, Evolution says, Black Cube recorded conversations with at least five current or former Evolution employees and board members. It says the operatives used false personas and disguises, and that the clips were edited and selected to build a misleading report.[1] One former executive, Jeff Millar, described being drawn into meetings by operatives posing as investors from a fictitious firm, Parvus Capital, which had a website, email accounts and business records.[2] Evolution says the people recorded disavowed the allegations and said their comments had been misrepresented.[1]
Fees
| # | Payment | Trigger | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | £400,000 | Initial fee for three months' work | [2] |
| 2 | £150,000 | Material said to show Evolution games offered in restricted markets. This became the basis of the complaint to New Jersey regulators | [2] |
| 3 | £175,000 | Bloomberg's November 2021 story, which Yanus called "a beautiful piece of article" | [2] |
| 4 | £350,000 | The opening of a New Jersey regulatory investigation into Evolution | [2] |
Evolution puts the total paid to Black Cube at more than £1.8 million.[1] SBC Americas reported Evolution's figure as roughly $2.4 million.[4] Yanus defended the firm's practices as "accurate and ordinary".[2]
Regulators and the press
| # | Date | Event | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | November 2021 | The New Jersey law firm Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP submitted the Black Cube report to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Evolution says the firm was paid about $33,700 | [1] |
| 2 | 16 November 2021 | Bloomberg published an article on the report's allegations. Evolution's shares fell about 30 per cent in a week | [1][2] |
| 3 | 26 November 2021 | According to Evolution, Black Cube paid a $10,000 invoice to HeraldPR, a New York public relations firm | [1] |
| 4 | 14 December 2021 | Evolution sued Calcagni & Kanefsky and unnamed parties in the Superior Court of New Jersey for defamation, trade libel, tortious interference and fraud | [1] |
| 5 | February 2024 | The NJDGE and the Pennsylvania board closed their investigations without corrective action. The NJDGE said it found "no evidence … showing that Evolution took illegal bets from New Jersey, another state, or any other prohibited jurisdiction" | [1] |
| 6 | 28 February 2025 | The court ordered Calcagni & Kanefsky to name its client and the report's author, and said "the report is not truthful" | [1] |
| 7 | April 2025 | Calcagni & Kanefsky named Black Cube as the author but said it did not know who had commissioned it | [1] |
| 8 | 11 June 2025 | Evolution added Black Cube as a defendant | [1] |
| 9 | 11 August 2025 | Avi Yanus filed an affidavit with what he called new evidence. Evolution says it was gathered by recording a former employee under false pretences | [1] |
| 10 | September 2025 | The court ordered Black Cube to name its client. It called the 2021 report "objectively baseless" and Yanus's affidavit "self-serving". Black Cube's attempts to appeal to the Appellate Division and the New Jersey Supreme Court failed | [1] |
| 11 | 21 October 2025 | Evolution announced that discovery showed Playtech Software Ltd had commissioned the report. Playtech's shares fell as much as 39 per cent that day | [1][5] |
| 12 | June 2026 | Judge John C. Porto denied, without prejudice, Evolution's motion to add Playtech as a defendant, pending the hearing on Black Cube's anti-SLAPP (UPEPA) motion in November 2026 | [6][4] |
| 13 | July 2026 | Evolution agreed to pay £4.75 million to settle a UK Gambling Commission review, which found its content had been available on six websites run by unlicensed operators. Black Cube cited this as support for its report. Evolution said the review covered April 2024 to January 2025, years after the report | [7] |
| 14 | 20 August 2026 | The special adjudicator, retired federal judge Robert Kugler, ordered depositions of three defence experts and refused Evolution's bids for audio and video recordings and to pierce Black Cube's legal privilege. He granted Black Cube's motion to lift confidentiality on the "Spectrum report", a document central to earlier discovery disputes | [7] |
Positions of the parties
- Evolution calls the report a "defamatory smear campaign" and says it caused "multi-billion dollar damage".[1]
- Black Cube says its findings, including "countless hours of video and audio recordings", show that Evolution "knowingly and deliberately allowed its games to operate in sanctioned jurisdictions and black markets".[2]
- Playtech says "there has been no ruling that the allegations in the Black Cube report are false".[2] It continues to defend its decision to commission the report and treats the dispute as a contingent liability.[4]
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 Playtech Unmasked as Black Cube Client Behind Defamatory Smear Campaign Targeting Evolution AB, Evolution AB press release (partisan), 21 October 2025.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 MC World Desk, Inside Black Cube: How the intelligence firm made millions from corporate investigations, Moneycontrol (summarising the Financial Times), 4 November 2025.
- ↑ Inside Black Cube: how notorious intelligence firm rakes in client fees, Financial Times, 3 November 2025.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 NJ court says Evolution cannot add Playtech to defamation lawsuit, SBC Americas, 16 June 2026.
- ↑ Playtech Sinks as Evolution Says Rival Was Behind Smear Campaign, Bloomberg, 21 October 2025.
- ↑ Nosa Omoigui, Court denies Evolution request to add Playtech as lawsuit defendant, EGR Intel, 15 June 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Silvia Pavlof, Black Cube's Latest Discovery Request Faces Evolution Challenge, GamblingNews, 28 August 2026.