Is Evolution in hot water over claims its live dealer games reach US sanctioned countries? Are US competitors trying to eliminate the brand? (Photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography on Unsplash)
The largest live dealer brand on the globe Evolution might be in deep trouble with plenty of unwanted attention focused on the brand. Not only has a competitor accused the firm of operating in black market countries, but it has also been accused of supplying US sanctioned countries – Iran in particular. However, the way the Evolution casino platform is set up is just like Microgaming, Playtech, Yggdrasil, Entain, Flutter, and many other online gambling brands, so this is a can of worms that should never have been opened.
So, what is all the fuss about? Here’s the crunch point for Evolution. This mystery competitor has thrown accusations over to the US iGaming authorities in charge of regulating the market. And here it is – Evolution games are available in US sanction countries namely Iran. Now, with that kind of bad press on your back, you have to be worried.
For the most part, iGaming companies in the US avoid unwanted attention. After all, this is a sensitive market as it is. We already saw one bout of federal laws putting an end to the entire market in 2011 on the same day as ‘Black Friday’, which is now the go-to name the casino industry refers to the country’s crackdown on online gambling as a whole.
An unnamed competitor has accused Evolution of supplying its games on the iGaming black market. In other words, allowing its live dealer games to become available in countries where gambling is illegal. Now, this is something any firm can get past in the long run, and the US government can most likely look past in all good conscious. Some reputation management, maybe some goodwill, and proof of a new system in place to prove this will not happen, and the company is good to go.
However, can the US government look past a complaint filed by Calcagni & Kanefsky law firm accusing not just black-market operations but a distribution network that means Evolution’s live casino games reach sanctioned countries?
Is this competitor stupid or clever? Now the US iGaming market could be unravelling a whole new controversy in iGaming – one that has been going on for years, if we are honest. And if the US government really digs its heals in and looks deep into the companies currently operating in the US, and how those companies distribute games globally, it could end up removing almost every iGaming brand in the country.
What Is Next for Evolution?
With the ‘US Sanction’ label, we must admit that the competitor is cunning and clever because that label is one that brings some serious attention. The kind that the president may catch wind of. And in the USA that could spell the end of your company.
How dare you enter our country where we allow you to do good business and then throw it in our faces by selling your product in sanctioned countries? Now just to be clear, that’s not our opinion here at livecasinocentral. However, you can imagine plenty of US lawmakers and the public, well known by the rest of the world as drama queens, will have that opinion. They love a problem over there and any excuse to create a scene to make their lives relevant is game. So, you can imagine what this could do to Evolution’s reputation if it goes viral across the country.
For now, luckily, people are not paying much attention to it. And Evolution’s next move has been to approach the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. We presume the approach is how can we work together to make sure Evolution’s games do not turn up in sanctioned countries, which Evolution adds is by no fault of its own.
Evolution’s Rebuttal: It sells its games as a B2B deal to B2C companies. Those companies are responsible for KYC checks and are subject to laws in the country in which their business operates. Evolution never takes bets directly from customers and has no control over the way its customers distribute their iGaming platforms across the globe.
Black Market Gambling Using Top Brands Has Been Happening for Years
Across the entire iGaming industry, it comes as no secret that the big brands are all available in just about every country in the world. Why? Brands like Microgaming, Evolution, Playtech, Entain, Flutter, SoftSwiss, and others that all have either a casino platform or casino games’ distribution platform operate as business-to-business companies.
Here’s how the B2B and B2C process works in all iGaming:
- Software providers sell its B2B game distribution access to Joe Bloggs Limited
- Joe Bloggs Limited then operates its B2C online casino and hosts the game here
- com is the casino Joe Blogs Limited owns
- com says in its T&Cs it does not accept players from Iran
- However, when players from Iran sign up, the casino allows it (it doesn’t care essentially)
- Now Joe Blogs Limited has a deal with Evolution so players from Iran have access
- com connects to Evolution, but Evolution has no ideas the players connected to the casino are playing from US sanctioned Iran
A common theme: This is scenario is a common theme across the entire iGaming marketplace. Just open any of the US online casinos in New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Delaware, or West Virginia and the games come from software providers that use the exact same B2B process as above. The US would need to shut down the entire iGaming market once again or impose strict measures on all brands supplying online casinos in its states, which would probably result in many of those brands pulling out of the market as the current B2B system is more profitable than being in a more restrictive US market.
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