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But Playtech has claimed that the Spectrum report, which is now publicly available, was unable “to confirm or refute” some of Black Cube’s claims, “as Evolution failed to provide Spectrum with significant information it had requested”.

Evolution declined to provide a comment on the update.

Notably, Spectrum said within its report that it did not believe Evolution had engaged in any illegal practices. It also refuted allegations concerning cash payments and the use of Evolution’s games in sanctioned countries.

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Fred Done, the 83-year-old founder of Betfred and Britain’s highest-paying taxpayer this year, has issued a stark warning about the impact of further tax increases on the gambling industry. 

In an interview with the Financial Times over the weekend, Done cautioned that additional tax hikes could result in widespread betting shop closures, harm related sectors such as horse racing and accelerate the decline of the high street.

Betfred currently operates approximately 1,094 retail shops across the UK. Done highlighted the concrete risks of Machine Gaming Duty – taxes on gambling machines – doubling from 20% to 40%, a move reportedly under consideration by Chancellor John Healey ahead of the Autumn Budget.

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“If the tax burden alone makes it impossible to establish the occupation of slot machine operators as the economic basis of one’s livelihood within the municipality,” the ruling said. 

Braun also argued that the public had been excluded from the preparatory finance committee meeting without justification.

But the court said that point did not affect the validity of the by-law, adding that it saw no evidence of a tax that would choke businesses.