Australia’s financial intelligence agency dropped several allegations in its civil proceedings against a London Stock Exchange-listed gambling services provider, which is accused of retaining customers with ties to organised crime.
In an amended statement of complaint filed on 29 August, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Austrac) removed its claims that Entain Group, as a money transfer service provider, breached the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006. The regulator is still pursuing its case that the business contravened regulations for gambling service providers under the same law.
Austrac said in the summary of its amended claim that the remaining allegations – that Entain failed to conduct proper customer due diligence and did not have an adequate anti-money laundering compliance programme – were “long-standing, systemic and reflective of inadequate oversight by Entain’s board and senior management.”
The day before Austrac filed its amended statement, the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney vacated the order it had made three months earlier requiring Entain to file a defence statement by 12 September if court-ordered mediation was not successful. Instead, the court has told the Isle of Man-based betting company to file its defence by 3 October, in advance of a further case management hearing scheduled later that month. There is no suggestion in the amended claim that Austrac’s amendments are connected to what occurred during mediation.
Austrac continues to allege that Entain contravened its duties as a gambling services provider “on an innumerable number of occasions” between 2016 and 2024 and said that each violation warrants a maximum civil penalty between A$21 million and A$33 million (US$14 million to US$22 million).
According to the regulator, Entain committed the breaches in its dealings with 17 customers of Entain-owned betting websites, such as Ladbrokes and Neds. Austrac said all of the highlighted customers used their betting accounts to withdraw and deposit significant amounts of money, amounting to suspicious or unusual transaction patterns.
Though the gambling provider submitted one or more activity reports to Austrac for each of the 17 customers, indicating Entain’s “suspicions relating to source of wealth/source of funds, proceeds of crime, money laundering and/or tax evasion”, the agency alleged that Entain continued to provide services to these customers without carrying out ongoing and appropriate due diligence.
Details of Entain’s alleged misconduct and the suspected criminal activities of the customers in question came to light in March, when Austrac published a redacted version of its original 640-page statement of claim.
According to the March filing, one Entain customer had been charged with 10 offences relating to a shooting, a robbery and gang activity. Another customer, the agency said, had the same name as a person who the media reported had been arrested and convicted for drug offences alongside 20 others who were part of “a global trafficking network”. Austrac further alleged that Entain was aware of these media reports.
The Austrac enforcement proceedings began in December 2024, around two years after Entain was hit with a £17 million fine by the UK gambling agency for anti-money laundering failures. The company also entered into a £615 million deferred prosecution agreement in England in 2023 to resolve allegations of corruption at Entain’s former Turkish subsidiary.
Entain and Austrac have been contacted for comment.
Counsel to Entain Group
Allens
Partners Peter Haig in Melbourne and James Campbell in Sydney
For Austrac
Norton Rose Fulbright
Partner Sonja Marsic in Sydney