Evoke Sorry for Social Media Post Trivializing Hezbollah’s Exploding Pagers

Posted on: September 20, 2024, 12:11h. 

Last updated on: September 20, 2024, 01:03h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

Online gambling group Evoke has apologized for a “totally unacceptable” social media post that appeared to trivialize the suspected Israeli attacks on Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah earlier this week, The Guardian reports.

Evoke, Hezbollah, Israel, pagers
Video footage from a market in Lebanon shows the moment a pager explodes in a man’s pocket. Israel’s Mossad is suspected of infiltrating Hezbollah’s supply train to insert explosives into the devices. (Image: Times of Israel: Screen capture: X)

Thirty-seven people were killed and 3,000 wounded in the attacks in which pagers and walkie-talkies containing small amounts of explosives were detonated in an apparent effort to incapacitate the Iran-backed group.

Israel hasn’t claimed responsibility for the incident, but it’s widely believed to be the work of the country’s intelligence services, which appear to have infiltrated Hezbollah’s supply chain to booby trap the pagers.

The attacks led to an escalation of the conflict on Thursday night as Hezbollah, which has called for the destruction of Israel, fired 100 rockets into the country. Israel responded Friday with a “targeted” air raid on Beirut.

Almost a year of cross-border fighting between Hezbollah and Israel sparked by the war in Gaza has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.

Tone-Deaf Post

Meanwhile, a now-deleted post shared on Evoke’s Israeli Facebook page included a drawing of a pager with a caption that read: “If that’s what they’ve managed to do with beepers, imagine what it’s like to work with technology. Wow. Luckily we are recruiting well.”

The post included a link to a page advertising vacancies within the company.

Evoke, formerly 888 Holdings, is headquartered and listed in London, but also has offices in Tel Aviv. The company was founded in the late 1990s by a group of Israeli tech entrepreneurs.

Evoke owns some of the best-known brands in the gaming and sports betting industries, including William Hill, 888casino, 888sport, 888poker, and Mr Green.

Internal Investigation

“The deleted post was totally unacceptable, and as soon as it was discovered it was immediately removed,” said a spokesperson for Evoke. “We sincerely apologize for any offence caused. We are investigating internally to ensure this does not happen again.”

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, described the post as “tasteless” in a comment to The Guardian, adding that it highlights the “dehumanization that underpins these conflicts.”

“Until people start understanding how each other are suffering, it’s going to be really hard to move forward,” Doyle said.