Playtech £1.8M “Smear Campaign” Against Evolution Exposed

Rarely a day goes by without fresh controversy hitting the gambling world.

It’s just been revealed that Playtech, one of iGaming’s biggest suppliers of slots and live dealer casino games, paid Black Cube £1.8M back in 2021 to launch a smear campaign against rival Evolution.

In a PR strategy gone wrong, Playtech’s stocks have since plummeted and a legal battle is now on the horizon.

Playtech is in big trouble. 

Earlier this year, the company’s shares collapsed 60% following concerns surrounding margins and a lack of growth.

And now that Evolution has revealed Playtech was the anonymous name that launched a smear campaign against them in 2021, it has led to Playtech stock dropping even further by a reported 34%.

Black Cube had initially rejected attempts by Evolution to unmask who the hidden client was, but they eventually revealed it to be Playtech after a New Jersey court ordered them to as part of the defamation dispute.

Court documents show that a Playtech subsidiary financed the £1.8M operation against Evolution in an attempt to discredit them and gain a market advantage.

The operation itself was conducted by private intelligence firm Black Cube, who put together a report accusing Evolution of supplying its games to prohibited markets, including Iran, Syria, and China.

However, the report failed to harm Evolution and since, ironically, only served to damage Playtech’s.

Evolution Amends Defamation Lawsuit, Playtech Responds

Unsurprisingly, Evolution is taking legal action against Playtech.

Evolution claims the controversial report was intended to “destroy its reputation” and contained “highly inflammatory and knowingly false claims” about the company and the markets it was supplying casino games to.

And it has since amended its ongoing New Jersey defamation lawsuit, originally filed all the way back in 2021 against Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP and the then-anonymous parties behind the report, now known to be Black Cube and Playtech, to include Playtech as a named defendant.

In a scathing press release posted on their official website, Evolution had this to say:

“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.

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Black Cube has a well-documented history of using deceitful methods to sway public opinion by launching smear campaigns on behalf of its clients.

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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. We will 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.”

What the outcome of one of iGaming’s biggest 2025 controversies will be remains to be seen, but for now litigation is expected to continue well into 2026.

You would expect Evolution to come out on top here following Playtech’s unethical practices, especially considering how the initial report against them temporarily put the company in bad light and – according to Evolution — caused multi-billion dollar damages.

Playtech Defends Black Cube Accusations

Playtech has, of course, opted to defend itself following the expose by Evolution.

In October, the iGaming provider labelled the accusation they launched a smear campaign against Evolution as “wholly untrue” and that Evolution is trying “to distract from serious questions about Evolution’s business practices.”

Playtech are effectively spinning what they did as a consumer protection move, rather than one designed to harm Evolution’s reputation as a B2B iGaming provider.

However, upon further inspection, it becomes relatively obvious that Playtech has a dog in the fight, as Evolution has been a long-time competitor of theirs in the gambling industry.

By paying Black Cube £1.8M to produce a fabricated report against Evolution, it’s safe to say that the move was almost certainly to damage a competitor and influence regulators.

Evolution has, after all, become one of iGaming’s best and most innovative suppliers of casino games over the past decade, so it’s no surprise that an already struggling Playtech decided to try and take them down using what can only be described as unethical practices.

Online Casinos and Sweepstakes Casinos Set to Feel Impact

Both online casinos and sweepstakes casinos are likely to be affected by the Playtech and Evolution drama.

We’ve already seen both suppliers recently pull out of the California sweepstakes casino market, meaning none of the sweepstakes casinos currently host their games from The Golden State.

And it’s now possible that the ongoing legal battle could lead to some operators scaling back their offerings from these two providers, especially now that Playtech’s reputation has taken such damage.

You would expect casino operators to want to protect themselves from secondary liability or reputational damage, and so having supplier agreements with either one of Playtech or Evolution now comes with an added risk attached to it.

Evolution doesn't come out of it looking much better, either, but the company will at least be relieved that Playtech’s unethical strategy against them has been exposed.

Evolution Shares Also Drop

Despite the fact that Playtech finds itself in a mess currently, Evolution’s shares have also taken a hit.

Shares fell nearly 9% in October as investors reacted to another quarter of declining revenue, along with the ongoing legal battle with Playtech.

When analysts pressed Evolution CEO Martin Carlesund about this and the Playtech fallout, he responded by saying “It’s horrible what has been done to use,” but that “the legal process now continues with depositions and information sharing” in an attempt to get things back on track for the company.

By GamesAndCasino