AUSTRAC launches enforcement investigation into Bet365
Bet365 is the latest corporate bookmaker to come under an enforcement investigation from Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulator AUSTRAC.
The British-headquartered bookie, licenced in the Northern Territory as Hillside (Australia New Media) Pty Limited, will be further investigated by AUSTRAC over whether it benefited from proceeds of crime.
AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said betting agencies have a significant role to play in combating financial crime.
“Corporate bookmakers must have robust systems in place to ensure they can manage and mitigate risks associated with money laundering and terrorism financing,” Thomas said
“Businesses without adequate processes in place to manage those risks leave themselves vulnerable to exploitation by criminals.”
External auditors were appointed in November 2022 to examine Bet 365’s compliance with anti-money laundering laws, along with that of rival Sportsbet.
Earlier that year, Entain, who run the Ladbrokes and Neds in Australia, were placed under an enforcement investigation with the outcome of that investigation not yet known.
The maximum penalty for a breach of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism act is $22.2 million.
In 2017, Tabcorp was fined $45 million after an AUSTRAC investigation into non-compliance of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act. In that instance, the Federal Court found Tabcorp had breached its compliance obligations on 108 occasions over five years.
The bet365 investigation comes at a time when the corporate bookmaker sector in Australia in anxiously awaiting the review by Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland of the You in Some You Lose More parliamentary committee report.
Bren O’Brien
Author
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