Old West

What is Old West?

Playtech commissioned intelligence firm Black Cube to investigate Evolution’s activities in 2020, with the resulting dossier alleging Evolution supplied games into banned and sanctioned markets.

Evolution subsequently sued Black Cube and has sought to hold Playtech accountable in the related defamation case.

This week, Spectrum Gaming released its Evolution-commissioned report, and Playtech has highlighted a number of claims from Black Cube’s investigation that have been corroborated in the report.

How to play Old West

KVA expressed concern over the potential manipulation of Google’s autocomplete function by unauthorised operators and websites primarily set up to redirect Dutch consumers to illegal gambling offers.

While acknowledging Google’s cooperation in removing paid advertisements promoting illegal casinos, the KVA emphasised the need for the company to take more comprehensive measures addressing organic search results.

Dutch MPs have raised similar concerns before. In December 2025, CDA MP Straatman asked the state secretary whether websites advertising as “Beste casino’s zonder Cruks” should be taken offline immediately. 

About Old West

While sports event contracts remain the headline-grabbers for prediction market operators, there’s evidence that other categories are experiencing growth. As Bernstein points out, cryptocurrency event contracts account for at least 20% of the turnover on the two largest prediction markets.

In another encouraging non-sports sign, one of those operators notched just $2 million in commodities volume last year, but that figure surpassed $410 million in August alone and is approaching $600 million on a year-to-date basis.

Bernstein estimates the global market for financial contracts will grow to $900 trillion by 2035, up from $700 trillion last year, and if prediction markets capture just 0.5% of that total, volume would increase by $4.7 trillion per year.