APCW
Fighting for trust, honesty and integrity
in the online gaming industry!
Sign Up For Perspectives Weekly Videos



Join us on:
Facebook  LinkedIn  Twitter  YouTube

Evolution accuses Playtech of funding 'smear campaign'

21 October 2025
Playtech shares dropped more than 30% Tuesday after Evolution AB named the company as the client behind a 2021 "smear campaign" that’s now at the center of an ongoing defamation lawsuit.

Evolution allege that Playtech’s subsidiary, Playtech Software Limited, hired private intelligence firm Black Cube to produce and leak a false report aimed at damaging its business. The report accused Evolution of dealing with unlicensed operators in sanctioned markets.

Court filings in New Jersey show Playtech paid Black Cube more than £1.8 million for the investigation. Evolution claims Black Cube used fake identities and disguises to secretly record company insiders, then edited those recordings to create a misleading report. The document was sent to U.S. regulators and leaked to Bloomberg, which published a story that same month.

Regulators in New Jersey and Pennsylvania later closed their reviews without taking action. Earlier this year, the New Jersey Superior Court ruled the report was “not truthful” and that Evolution had suffered financial harm. Evolution estimates the damage to be in the billions.

In its latest filing, Evolution added Playtech as a defendant, accusing the company of hiding its role for nearly four years. The case is expected to continue through 2026.

In a statement, Playtech called Evolution’s claims “wholly untrue” and said it had lawfully commissioned an investigation to address “credible concerns” about Evolution’s operations in restricted markets. Playtech said the report’s findings were legitimate and that it “stands by the decision to commission the investigation.”

Evolution’s lawsuit was first filed in December 2021 against New Jersey law firm Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP and unnamed co-conspirators. The firm submitted the Black Cube report to regulators and was paid about $33,700 for its work.

After a court order earlier this year, Calcagni & Kanefsky identified Black Cube as the firm behind the report but claimed not to know who paid for it. A later ruling forced Black Cube to reveal its client. The court found the report “objectively baseless” and rejected Black Cube’s appeal.

Both sides say they welcome a full court review. Evolution says it will hold Playtech and Black Cube “responsible for their misconduct.” Playtech says the case will prove the “credibility and legitimacy” of its investigation.

Below is a timeline of events, according to a press release from Evolution:

December 2020: Playtech hired Black Cube to produce a defamatory report about Evolution, accusing it of regulatory violations, that was designed to harm Evolution’s business and destroy its reputation. High-level Playtech executives, including but not limited to CEO Mor Weizer, communicated with Black Cube regarding the investigation and report.

Throughout 2021: Black Cube conducted an “investigation” that involved secretly recorded conversations and interviews they conducted using false personas and disguises and under false pretenses with at least five current or former Evolution employees and board members.

Black Cube edited these videos and audio clips and cherrypicked portions of these interactions to manufacture a misleading and defamatory report that made sweepingly false allegations about Evolution.

November 2021: The New Jersey law firm Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP submitted the Black Cube report to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (“NJDGE”) and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (“PGCB”). Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP was paid approximately 33,700 USD for its services, which included purportedly reviewing the report, drafting a cover letter that reiterated the report’s false claims, and sending it to Evolution’s regulators.

November 16, 2021: Bloomberg published an article detailing the defamatory allegations included in the report, which was also circulated to several other media outlets, resulting in salacious and inaccurate articles based on Bloomberg’s story.

November 26, 2021: Black Cube paid an invoice for 10,000 USD to HeraldPR, a New York-based PR firm founded by Juda S. Engelmayer. Engelmayer has been described as a “go-to guy among a particular subset of alleged fraudsters and predators” by The New York Times.

December 14, 2021: Evolution filed a lawsuit against Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP and the then-anonymous parties behind the report, now known to be Black Cube and Playtech, for defamation, trade libel, tortious interference with prospective economic advantage, fraud, and other illegal conduct, in the Superior Court of New Jersey. That case is ongoing.

For years after the lawsuit’s filing, Playtech and Black Cube took extraordinary measures to conceal their roles in commissioning and creating the defamatory report, hiding behind assertions of privilege and immunity.

February 2024: The NJDGE and PGCB closed their investigations into Evolution without taking any corrective action. The NJDGE stated that they had found “no evidence … showing that Evolution took illegal bets from New Jersey, another state, or any other prohibited jurisdiction,” and “no evidence of inappropriate payments to Evolution by its clients or that Evolution provided devices for customers to illegally use their content.”

February 28, 2025: The New Jersey Superior Court directed Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP to disclose the identity of its anonymous client and the report’s author, and concluded, “the report is not truthful and Plaintiffs[] suffered damages and continue[] to suffer damages in the casino gaming industry as a direct result of [Defendants’] actions.”

April 2025: Black Cube’s identity was finally revealed by Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP, but the law firm claimed they did not know the identity of the client that commissioned Black Cube to create the report.

June 11, 2025: Evolution amended its complaint by adding Black Cube as a defendant for its responsibility in engineering, preparing, and disseminating the defamatory report.

August 11, 2025: Black Cube’s founder and director, Avi Yanus, filed an affidavit with what he claimed was new evidence in an attempt to legitimize the discredited 2021 report. This “evidence” was collected using the same unethical methods, including using false personas and false pretenses to secretly record a former employee of Evolution and then cherry pick portions of the recording to support their predetermined narrative. Shortly thereafter, Bloomberg published another story, quoting directly from Black Cube’s affidavit.

September 2025: The New Jersey Superior Court ordered Black Cube to reveal its client’s identity. In that order, the New Jersey Superior Court found Black Cube’s 2021 report to be “objectively baseless" and stated that "no reasonable litigant could expect success on the merits." Additionally, the Judge referred to Black Cube’s August 2025 affidavit as “self-serving.”

Rather than comply with the Court order, Black Cube unsuccessfully attempted to appeal the order to the New Jersey Appellate Division and then sought emergency review by the New Jersey Supreme Court, which denied its request.

Evolution accuses Playtech of funding 'smear campaign' is republished from iGamingNews.com.


Copyright © 2025 APCW   All rights reserved. Terms of Use    Privacy Policy