Slots giant, Evolution has been hit with allegations of supplying games to illicit markets.
Bloomberg reported that Black Cube, a private investigation service, has allegedly recorded current and former employees of the supplier describing how its games were operated in Sudan, China and Iran.
These revelations followed a file submitted to a New Jersey court on Monday in Evolution’s ongoing defamation case against a law firm and anonymous competitor.
Black Cube stated the videos and transcripts, submitted in an 118-page affidavit by Black Cube’s Director Avi Yanus, were taken between 2021 and 2023.
Case background
Allegations over improper practice first surfaced in 2021, after a complaint was made to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) by Ralph Marra, Senior Counsel at Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP, on behalf of the unnamed competitor.
The leak of the complaint, which was dropped by the NJDGE, led to more than $10bn being wiped from Evolution’s market value. In response, Evolution sued the law firm.
Evolution said the report submitted to the regulator was “inaccurate, false, defamatory and methodologically flawed”.
The company said the NJDGE found no evidence that it “sanctioned, promoted, permitted, or otherwise materially benefitted” from providing its content to any prohibited jurisdictions.
The court accepted the NJDGE’s decision and ordered Calcagni & Kanefsky to disclose their client, which led to Black Cube’s name being revealed. However, it is still unclear which company called on the private investigator’s services.
According to the affidavit, Black Cube “redoubled its investigative efforts to further corroborate the accuracy of its findings”.
Included within the new evidence was the words of Jeff Millar, Evolution’s former US Commercial Director.
Black Cube claims Millar was recorded stating “it really shocked me, it absolutely shocked me”, in relation to discovering games could be accessed from markets which were sanctioned or criminalised gambling.
Millar also stated in the recordings that Evolution used aggregators to sell its games in markets such as China, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand.
Black Cube has also taken aim at the submitted videos depicting their agents withdrawing winnings from Evolution-owned games while in Iran and Syria.
Evolution told Bloomberg that the submitted affidavit is “just another try from Black Cube to shift focus away from revealing the name of its client”, and that Black Cube’s evidence is “false and defamatory”.
Evolution has continued to deny the veracity of the claims, stating that it is just another effort from Black Cube to shift focus away from revealing the name of its client”, and that Black Cube’s evidence is “false and defamatory”.
We have reached out to Evolution for comment on the story.
