Australia financial crimes regulator opens probe into UK betting giant Entain

The Australian financial crimes regulator said on Monday it opened an investigation into British sports betting giant Entain Plc to assess whether it was complying with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) said it began the enforcement investigation after an extensive supervisory campaign covering the whole corporate bookmaking sector, without giving further details.

“Reporting entities have a responsibility to ensure they identify, assess and manage risks of money laundering and terrorism financing, develop adequate processes and devote the necessary resources to comply with their AML/CTF obligations,” Austrac CEO Nicole Rose said in a statement.

Online betting has exploded in Australia since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic when physical gambling shopfronts were forced to shut in stop-start lockdowns over nearly two years.

London-listed Entain, which has about one-sixth of Australia’s online betting market via the Ladbrokes brand, and larger rival Flutter Entertainment, Australia’s largest online betting house which has Sportsbet, reported large revenue increases in calendar 2020 and 2021.

In August, the British gambling regulator fined Entain £17m, its biggest fine, for what it called “completely unacceptable anti-money laundering and safer gambling failures”.

Entain, which in 2021 made an approach to buy certain assets of Australia’s No 2 online betting operator Tabcorp Holdings, said in a statement the company was co-operating with the investigation.

Austrac had conducted a standard assessment of the company's Australian business' historical Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing policies and procedures between July 2016 and June 2020, Entain added.

Reuters