Go For Champion

About Go For Champion

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.

About Go For Champion

The research firm estimates that by 2035, financial derivatives, including event contracts linked to commodities, cryptocurrencies and stocks, will account for 49% of turnover on yes/no exchanges, topping sports to become the largest volume driver. The research firm sees event contracts tied to key performance indicators (KPIs) leading the charge.

“We expect new products such as KPI markets, which allow users to trade a single corporate metric, such as production, deliveries, or subscriber growth, rather than the stock price itself,” observe the analysts. “Further, perp futures are expanding from crypto to commodities and single stock perps.”

Some exchange operators already filed plans to introduce KPI-linked event contracts. Those derivatives would be tied to metrics such as corporate earnings or, in more nuanced cases, Apple iPhone shipments or Tesla deliveries — just two examples — in a given quarter.

What is Go For Champion?

“Such operations, albeit not purposeful, may impugn the company’s reputation and potentially subject Evolution to heightened regulatory scrutiny and the imposition of sanctions,” the report continues.

In the dossier, Spectrum unpacks Evolution’s review and vetting processes for potential clients. At the time of the report, Evolution required clients to provide certification of the beneficial ownership of 25% or more of the company. But Spectrum says it was not using “a viable process” as some documents provided by companies could be inaccurate.

“If red flags become known to Evolution during this onboarding process, Evolution should either determine not to do business with the company or undertake enhanced due diligence to resolve the red flags before engaging in business with the company,” Spectrum advises.