{"id":19237,"date":"2021-06-21T14:52:02","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T14:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=19237"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:22:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:22:35","slug":"austrac-to-join-forces-with-local-banks-over-casino-investigations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/austrac-to-join-forces-with-local-banks-over-casino-investigations","title":{"rendered":"AUSTRAC to join forces with local banks over casino investigations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

AUSTRAC will partner with Australian banks to continue investigating all three casino operators due to potential financial crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- The national financial crimes watchdog AUSTRAC <\/strong>will take advantage of its improved relationship with local banks to carry out deeper investigations into the Australian casino sector <\/strong>and potential non-compliance with AML rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Nicole Rose<\/strong>, CEO of the financial intelligence watchdog, banks could play a major role in providing information about possible financial crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AUSTRAC<\/a> has launched an investigation into Australia\u2019s three main casino operators: SkyCity, Star Entertainment Group and Crown Resorts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The probes began when the regulator detected that Australian casinos’ counter-terrorism funding (CTF)<\/strong> and anti-money laundering (AML) programmes<\/strong> were unsatisfactory. The consequences for casino operators could vary from monetary fines to operating licence restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the country with the highest rate of gambling in the world, Australia has always been on the radar for possible money laundering crimes and as such AUSTRAC has a special interest in checking casino operators’ activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crown Resorts<\/strong> is already being investigated for cases of money laundering<\/strong>. It currently faces Royal Commissions<\/strong> in Victoria and Western Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission<\/a> into Crown Resorts will continue up to October 15<\/strong> after the government approved judge Raymond Finkelstein\u2019s request for an extension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finkelstein also asked for an increase in the commission\u2019s funding from AU$10m to AU$19.75m<\/strong> to continue investigating Crown Resorts suitability to maintain its licence for its Melbourne casino<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to local media, Melissa Horne<\/strong>, minister for consumer affairs, gaming and liquor regulation, said: \u201cThe evidence we have seen coming out of the Royal Commission <\/strong>to date is significant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll provide the Commissioner with the resources and time required to complete this important work<\/strong> as requested.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the last session of public hearings into Crown Resorts<\/strong>, Ann Siegers, Crown\u2019s chief risk officer, referred to the arrest of 19 Crown executives<\/a> in China in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siegers, who joined Crown Resorts in 2017, admitted that a review of the incident should have been undertaken immediately to be effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said: \u201cBy the time I joined Crown many of the people and individuals were no longer in place <\/strong>and therefore it was too late.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siegers also added that Crown Resorts has made efforts in the past months <\/strong>to reach suitability in the state of New South Wales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AUSTRAC will partner with Australian banks to continue investigating all three casino operators due to potential financial crimes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18728,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"AUSTRAC is intensifying investigations into Australia's three major casino operators \u2013 SkyCity, Star Entertainment Group, and Crown Resorts \u2013 for potential AML\/CTF non-compliance, leveraging enhanced collaboration with local banks. This heightened scrutiny follows detected deficiencies in their anti-money laundering programs, with potential consequences ranging from significant monetary fines to operating licence restrictions. Crown Resorts faces ongoing Royal Commissions in Victoria and Western Australia, highlighting systemic governance failures.","focusai_entities":"AUSTRAC, SkyCity, Star Entertainment Group, Crown Resorts, Nicole Rose, Raymond Finkelstein, Melissa Horne, Ann Siegers","focusai_location":"Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, Melbourne, New South Wales, China","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.98)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on Operator Licences?","query":"What specific criteria will AUSTRAC and the Royal Commissions use to determine the suitability of casino operators to retain their licences, and what is the projected timeline for these decisions?"},{"label":"Financial Penalties Outlook?","query":"Given the scale of the investigations and historical precedents, what is the estimated range of potential monetary fines that SkyCity, Star Entertainment Group, and Crown Resorts could face, and how might this impact their capital structures?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,439],"tags":[20215,23911,23907,1137,1295],"class_list":["post-19237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-legal-news","tag-crown-perth","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-land-based-casino","tag-skycity","tag-star-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19237"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19270,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19237\/revisions\/19270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}