The private intelligence firm that compiled the Evolution dossier has argued that recent developments have bolstered its case against the business.
In a new filing dated 3 August, Black Cube – the controversial Israeli investigations agency that put together a famous 2021 report on Evolution – suggests the live casino giant’s settlement with the UK Gambling Commission and failed purchase of Galaxy Gaming are proof of the strength of its case.
Playtech was revealed as the mystery entity that commissioned the report last year, as first reported by NEXT.io, in a twist that set the stage for one of the most dramatic legal confrontations in online gambling history.
The defamation case has been largely caught up in procedural disputes throughout 2026, with Black Cube attempting to convince the courts to order Evolution’s contact and dialogue with regulators to be made available.
Evolution’s interactions with regulators
Black Cube specifically pointed to the failure of Evolution’s Galaxy Gaming acquisition and its UKGC licence review as further reasons the court should grant its previously denied request for discovery relating to Evolution’s interactions with regulators.
The filing states: “Black Cube writes today because in the last two weeks, extraordinary events have confirmed Black Cube’s suspicion that Evolution has not been forthright with the court on matters that are essential to the resolution of the pending UPEPA [Uniform Public Expression Protection Act] motions.”
Evolution declined to comment when contacted by NEXT.io, but outlined that it would file its response to Black Cube’s latest filing in due course.
On Galaxy Gaming, Black Cube highlighted that the deal collapsed after running out of time amid outstanding regulatory approvals, including from the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB).
It also connected this to new guidance published earlier in the year by the NGCB, which bars licensees from operating in “prohibited jurisdictions”, a risk first highlighted in February by NEXT.io, whose article on the topic is attached as an exhibit.
NEXT.io understands the NGCB did not actually reject the approvals, as the acquisition never found itself on the regulator’s agenda. Evolution’s own comments during its Q2 financial report suggest it decided to give up due to the disproportionate time it had spent finalising the deal for a relatively small business, which CEO Martin Carlesund later described as having “no material impact” on its operations.
The UKGC probe last month culminated in a £4.75m settlement for wrongdoing by Evolution, relating to games appearing on six sites from two unlicensed operators targeting the UK.
In its own press release, Evolution said the Commission had found no wider pattern of its games appearing on unlicensed sites in the UK market.
However, Black Cube pointed to the failures in Evolution’s policies that the Commission deemed were responsible for these breaches, and further highlighted the regulator’s conclusion that the issues were serious enough for it to consider licence suspension.
The filing said: “These remarkable developments confirm the misleading nature of Evolution’s statements to the court concerning its interactions with regulators around the world. They also plainly show why Black Cube’s November 2021 report was anything but a ‘sham.’”
NEXT.io understands Evolution’s position is that neither the Galaxy Gaming deal termination nor UKGC settlement were related to the matters raised in the initial Black Cube report.