AUSTRAC investigating Entain Group over AML practices

Entain Group – the British gambling giant operating Ladbrokes and several other betting brands – is facing investigations launched by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) over concerns of anti money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CTF) law compliance.

The Australian financial watchdog began the enforcement investigations on Entain on September 12 following an extensive supervisory campaign covering the whole corporate bookmaking sector. According to the regulator’s chief executive, Nicole Rose, bookmakers have a duty 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”.

In light of the gambling ecosystem of Australia, where Entain holds a one-sixth share of the booming online betting market via its Ladbrokes brand, the investigation was simply a matter of time. This is not the first time the company will have been investigated; between July 2016 and June 2020, AUSTRAC conducted an assessment of the operator’s historical AML and CTF policies.

Due to the ongoing status of the investigation, the regulator could not offer further comments on its details. It, however, commented on the various regulatory tools, including court-forced actions and civil penalty orders, it can employ if a company is being non-compliant.

Since the goal of the regulator’s supervisory campaign is to assess multiple entities within the “corporate bookmaking sector”, it may also be probing other betting brands soon, with its investigations leading “to other areas of focus in this sector”.

Just last month, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) fined Entain an unprecedented £17 million for what it termed “completely unacceptable anti money laundering and safer gambling failures” relating to the operator’s online and land-based businesses. The litany of failures includes failure to conduct risk assessments, lack of due diligence checks, and little to no customer interaction to reduce gambling harm, amongst other offences.

While still battling with the sanction which might result into a possible licence revocation, the company was hit by a lawsuit from a customer named Simon Rose who claimed that the bookmaker allowed him to place bets up to £1.8 million over a period of seven months from 2015-16 without doing affordability checks.

Entain has responded in a statement that it was cooperating with the investigation.

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