Scratchem

About Scratchem

“This is unacceptable. It is encouraging to see Skyhills go offline immediately after our initial action.”

Skyhills is the third illegal operator targeted by Nederlandse Loterij, with prior legal action taken against Lalabet and Qbet. 

The Lalabet case, which reached a milestone in June, saw a Dutch court rule largely in favour of the lottery operator. 

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Stella David, Entain’s CEO, called for the government to move ahead with the ban immediately, arguing clubs were already aware of the planned changes.

“Premier League clubs that have struck new deals with unlicensed gambling operators knew the risks,” she said. “The government made clear in February that it would bring in a ban and it should do so immediately: even if that means clubs ordering new kit mid-season.

“Inconvenience is not an excuse for inaction.”

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Black Cube, an intelligence firm hired by Playtech in 2020 to look into alleged illegal behaviour at its rival Evolution, released a divisive report into Evolution’s actions. Evolution denied and refuted much of its findings.

Evolution then commissioned Spectrum Gaming Group to produce a report on its actions and the validity of the Black Cube report. Produced in 2022, the report has long been subject to confidentiality despite Evolution claiming the report exonerated the company.

Playtech on Wednesday published a statement highlighting what it claimed were compliance failures at Evolution, written into the Spectrum report.