Black Cube and Evolution are at odds over the truth behind a key third-party investigation into alleged activity in prohibited jurisdictions.
Black Cube and Evolution are at odds over the truth behind a key third-party investigation into the live casino supplier’s alleged activities in prohibited jurisdictions.
In an intriguing and heavily redacted court filing submitted yesterday (26 February), Black Cube argued that Evolution’s public comments about the investigation known as the Spectrum report do not match up to its actual contents.
Black Cube has therefore petitioned the court to lift the confidentiality restrictions attached to it and recently obtained a copy of the report in discovery.
The report was conducted by consultants at Spectrum Gaming Group. It was commissioned by Evolution to serve as an internal investigation into the supplier’s alleged activities in prohibited markets, which were first made public in Black Cube’s initial 2021 dossier.
In the filing, Black Cube’s attorneys wrote: “Black Cube’s core thesis was correct: that Evolution’s business is built on pervasive illegality that is made possible by an illusory compliance programme that does little to stop it. It is no wonder that Evolution has fought ceaselessly to try to keep the Spectrum Report hidden from the parties to this case and the public.
“Despite repeatedly proclaiming that the Spectrum Report vindicates its business practices and demonstrates the falsity of Black Cube’s Report, Evolution continues to insist that every word of the Spectrum Report is confidential and must be hidden from the public.”
Black Cube went on to highlight several specific points it argued contradicted Evolution’s public comments on the report, especially about its activities in prohibited jurisdictions.
This included the business putting together a summary of these conclusions in an appendix also uploaded onto the court docket.
In response, Evolution attorneys argued this was a tactic to delay the long-running case further.
One of the supplier’s lawyers wrote in a letter to Black Cube: “Your letter accuses Evolution of trying to deceive ‘the public, the Court, regulators, and shareholders’ without citing a single piece of evidence, other than irrelevant testimony from Black Cube’s own principal. Even for Black Cube, which has a well-documented history of disregard for the truth, that tactic is reckless.”
Should the Spectrum report be confidential?
The filing marks the latest twist in the complicated tussle over discovery that has dominated the case.
While Black Cube succeeded in getting a copy of the report as part of a wide-ranging set of discovery demands, Evolution has claimed the report contents are confidential and so cannot be discussed.
Meanwhile, Black Cube has argued the report contents are integral to its defence and that it is unfair for Evolution to be able to unilaterally characterise what it says by hiding behind confidentiality, especially when the report was used to publicly signpost evidence of compliance.
It should be noted that the New Jersey gambling regulator (NJDGE) used the Spectrum report to inform its own conclusions on Evolution’s activity, before closing its probe without further investigation in 2024.
This was a factor in Judge John C. Porto ultimately making the decision to preliminarily call the Black Cube report “baseless”, thereby moving to unmask Playtech as the mysterious entity that commissioned it.
At the time, the contents of the Spectrum report were summarised by the NJDGE in February 2024, including that Evolution games could not be accessed by VPN in Syria, Sudan and Iran.
They could however be accessed from other jurisdictions via VPN, including Hong Kong, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.