Evolution agrees €5.57m settlement to end UK licence review
Evolution has agreed to pay GBP 4.75m (about €5.57m) to settle a UK Gambling Commission investigation into the availability of its casino games on unlicensed websites serving British customers.
The agreement concludes a licence review opened in December 2024 following concerns that Evolution content could be accessed in Britain through operators without the required licence.
According to Evolution, two of its operator customers made its games available on six websites serving British consumers without a UK licence. The company said the operators breached its supply terms and circumvented restrictions intended to block access from Britain.
The settlement leaves Evolution’s UK operating licence intact, removing the threat of more severe action such as suspension or revocation.
Six sites at the centre of the case
Evolution said it ended its commercial relationships with the two operators as soon as the websites were identified. It has also introduced stronger “ring-fencing” controls intended to keep its content within licensed markets.
Martin Carlesund, Evolution’s chief executive, said: “At Evolution, we always want to do what is right, and it is not acceptable that six unlicensed sites offered Evolution content in the regulated UK market.”
“We do not want traffic from unlicensed operators and will always move quickly to address any such situation. We welcome the conclusion of the review and remain focused on continuing to supply our world-leading games to licensed operators in the UK.”
The company acknowledged that technical safeguards cannot entirely prevent third parties from trying to evade controls. It said it would continue to use technical, legal and commercial measures to identify and stop unauthorised access.
When the review began in 2024, Evolution said it had already blocked its games on the websites concerned and would cooperate fully with the Commission. At the time, Carlesund said: “We are committed to supporting the licensed UK market as well as preventing unlicenced traffic.”
Pressure on gambling suppliers
The case reflects the Commission’s broader effort to disrupt the supply chain supporting illegal gambling, rather than concentrating solely on operators that deal directly with customers.
In a 2024 industry briefing, Gambling Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes warned licensed businesses to examine whether their suppliers were linked, directly or indirectly, to unlicensed activity.
“The Commission’s strategy on combating illegal gambling is to cause as much upstream disruption as we can, which is why we have focused on ISPs, payment providers, search engines, software suppliers and more,” Rhodes said.
Evolution’s latest financial figures underline the relatively limited size of the settlement for the group. It reported first-quarter net revenue of €513m, EBITDA of €335.3m and profit of €251.9m. Cash and cash equivalents stood at almost €1.1bn at the end of March.
The GBP 4.75m settlement is equivalent to roughly 1.4 per cent of Evolution’s first-quarter EBITDA and less than 0.5 per cent of the cash it held at the end of March.
The company’s European business has nevertheless been under pressure. Revenue attributed to customers in Europe fell to €345.3m in the first quarter, while revenue based on European player IP addresses dropped to €167.1m. Evolution attributed the weakness partly to regulatory uncertainty and the short-term effect of its own ring-fencing measures.
In its April results, the company still described the outcome of the British review as unknown and warned that sanctions or penalties were possible. The settlement closes that uncertainty, but it also reinforces the regulator’s warning that suppliers can be held responsible when their products appear in the illegal market.
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