AUSTRAC commences civil penalty proceedings against Entain Group
Australia’s financial crimes watchdog accuses Entain Group of serious and systemic non-compliance with AML laws.
Australia.- The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) has announced today (December 16) that it has commenced civil penalty proceedings against Entain Group. It accuses the company, which runs online betting sites like Ladbrokes and Neds, of alleged serious and systemic non-compliance with Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) laws.
It said Entain’s board and senior management failed to appropriately monitor its AML/CTF programme and lacked proper controls to verify the identities of customers making cash deposits via third parties. It says Entain failed to check on 17 high-risk customers properly,
AUSTRAC’s CEO, Brendan Thomas, said: “AUSTRAC’s proceedings allege that Entain did not develop and maintain a compliant anti-money laundering program and failed to identify and assess the risks it faced. We are alleging this left the company at serious risk of criminal exploitation.
“Money laundering is often a symptom of serious criminal activity, including fraud, scams and corruption, all of which have equally serious effects on our communities.”
He added: “This is the first time AUSTRAC has brought civil penalty proceedings against businesses operating in the online betting sector, and the Australian arm of Entain is part of one of the world’s largest sports betting and gaming groups.
“The online betting sector, and all other businesses regulated by AUSTRAC, must take their AML/CTF obligations seriously. This includes ensuring they have appropriate procedures to know who their customer is, even when they rely on third parties to process transactions.”
Gavin Isaacs, CEO of Entain, said: “We note the allegations made, which we take extremely seriously. We have co-operated fully with AUSTRAC throughout its investigation and we are implementing further enhancements to Entain Australia’s AML and CTF compliance arrangements. Whilst we still have some further improvements to make, we expect these to be implemented in line with the plan we communicated to AUSTRAC in 2023.
“We are committed to keeping financial crime out of gambling and continue to play our part in supporting a well-regulated and compliant sector for our customers, stakeholders and the wider community.”
This Year, SkyCity was ordered to pay an AU$63m penalty for breaking AML laws. AUSTRAC has also accepted an enforceable commitment from Sportsbet, and continued legal action against The Star Entertainment Group.
In October, AUSTRAC introduced a requirement for online gambling service providers to complete customer identification procedures (ACIP) before establishing an online gambling account or offering any designated service.
