Seamen

How to play Seamen

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 Seamen

The DIA worked directly with class 4 gambling operators (commonly known as pokies trusts), and discovered ‘widespread issues’ such as cases where money that should have been available for community grants was instead spent on society expenses, such as the purchase of additional gaming machines.

Vicki Scott, the DIA’s director of gambling, said the investigation had delivered significant results, while stressing that work to improve compliance and ensure communities received their share of gambling proceeds would continue.

“Most operators have worked constructively with us to address historical issues and improve their practices,” Scott said.

What is Seamen?

The ANJ has called for operators to provide proof rather than act on suspicion alone. The guide outlined the types of evidence and “converging indicators” (faisceaux d’indices) that French courts have accepted in previous litigations, including IP addresses, device logs and connection timings.

Operators were encouraged to take several practical steps, including enhancing terms and conditions, maintaining robust evidence and uptaking technical standards.

They have also been advised to thoroughly review their Know Your Customer, fraud detection protocols and contractual terms to reflect the guide’s recommendations.