Playtech has lost its UK court battle against OnAir after judges ruled that English courts do not have jurisdiction over the dispute.
Playtech has lost its UK court battle against Realtime SIA and its former employee Igors Veliks after judges ruled that English courts do not have jurisdiction over the dispute.
The Court of Appeal overturned an earlier order allowing Playtech to sue Realtime and Veliks in England, meaning any potential litigation would have to be brought elsewhere.
The case centred on allegations that Veliks, who worked for Playtech subsidiary Euro Live Technologies between October 2020 and July 2021, had improperly accessed confidential information on an internal Playtech platform while working for Realtime live casino subsidiary OnAir Entertainment.
The dramatic allegations were made my a former OnAir employee last year and were first reported by NEXT.io before being confirmed with screenshots and additional sources.
The court case saw Playtech claim Veliks had used login details from his former employment to access unreleased games before providing this information to Realtime Gaming, which then allegedly used it to develop two games called Travel Fever and Diamond Rush Roulette.
NEXT.io understands the court did not make any ruling over the substance of the case and limited its ruling to the jurisdictional question of whether the English courts were an appropriate jurisdiction for the dispute.
Lord Justice Arnold, delivering the judgment on 21 November 2025, said the applicable law for the trade secrets claim was Latvian law because the direct damage occurred in Latvia, and not the UK.
He added that there was no parallel between Playtech’s claim and a previous precedent case, noting that on Playtech’s pleaded case, “the only direct damage it has suffered was sustained in Latvia”.
Evidence of UK damage to Playtech lacking
The court found that Playtech had failed to demonstrate that either of the disputed games had been downloaded or accessed by anyone in the UK.
Lord Justice Arnold said Playtech’s case was “entirely concerned with the indirect consequences” of the alleged acts, particularly the reduction in licensing revenue received by Playtech in the UK, rather than direct damage caused by those acts.
The court also rejected Playtech’s copyright claim, which related to a screenshot of a logo from one of its games that Veliks allegedly took in Latvia and later possessed in London during a trade show visit.
Lord Justice Arnold said Latvia was plainly the appropriate forum for this claim, noting that Latvian courts would be prepared to determine claims for subsequent acts of secondary infringement of UK copyright.
The appeal was brought by Realtime Gaming and Veliks against a previous order made by Judge Thompsell in January 2025, which had initially dismissed their challenge to the jurisdiction of English courts.
The ruling means Playtech will be unable to pursue its claims against the defendants in England and Wales, with any legal action needing to be brought in Latvia instead.
Patent revocation confirmed
Playtech had also brought infringement proceedings against OnAir in the Unified Patent Courts, an EU-level patent court.
However, these will also end after the European Patent Office’s Technical Board of Appeal confirmed the revocation of the relevant Playtech live casino patent on 30 October.