ENTAINS response to AUSTRAC 31 March 2025 regarding AML issues.

[Chief Stipe]

Acknowledgement of AUSTRAC's Statement of Claim

31 March 2025

Entain plc, the global sports betting and gaming group, acknowledges that the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre ("AUSTRAC"), has today published its Statement of Claim as part of its civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against Entain Group Pty Ltd, the Group’s subsidiary in Australia (“Entain Australia”).

As outlined on 16 December 2024, (https://www.entaingroup.com/news-insights/latest-news/2024/acknowledgement-of-austracs-commencement-of-civil-penalty-proceedings/), Entain notes the allegations made in relation to Entain Australia and takes them extremely seriously.

The Statement of Claim published today will take some time to review and any alleged contraventions will be carefully considered.

Entain has co-operated fully with AUSTRAC throughout its investigation, and in December 2022 commenced a programme of further enhancements to its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing ("AML and CTF") systems and processes.

Stella David, Interim Chief Executive of Entain, commented:

“We are taking these allegations extremely seriously and continue to fully co-operate with AUSTRAC.

“We also remain focused on continuing to enhance Entain Australia's AML and CTF compliance arrangements. We expect these enhancements to be fully implemented by June 2025, in line with the plan communicated to AUSTRAC.

“We are committed to keeping financial crime out of gambling and continue to play our part in supporting a well-regulated and compliant sector for our customers, stakeholders and the wider community.”

 

Enquiries:

Media - Entain plc

media@entaingroup.com

[westbrew]

Very interesting statement, they aim to enhance Entain AML and CTF compliance by June 2025. Looking at NZ TAB annual report it appears they are under the impression that Entain have great systems already, is this just another example of having a Board that has no experience in gambling and the associated risks of financial crime expecting a global wagering outfit to put doing the right thing ahead of profit. I hope they are not asleep at the wheel as the last thing racing needs is to be seen to be profiting from the proceeds of crime.  

[Chief Stipe]

23 minutes ago, westbrew said:

Very interesting statement, they aim to enhance Entain AML and CTF compliance by June 2025. Looking at NZ TAB annual report it appears they are under the impression that Entain have great systems already, is this just another example of having a Board that has no experience in gambling and the associated risks of financial crime expecting a global wagering outfit to put doing the right thing ahead of profit. I hope they are not asleep at the wheel as the last thing racing needs is to be seen to be profiting from the proceeds of crime.  

ENTAIN are better placed than any other entity that AUSTRAC has taken on.  TABNZ would have been nailed.  You only have to look at how much AUSTRAC got out of their own bank WESTPAC to understand that ENTAIN are small fry.  

ENTAIN have been working with AUSTRAC to improve their systems.

[Kit Walker]

How does this happen when they said the following:

 

[Chief Stipe]

Where is that stated in the Statement of Claim @Kit Walker?

The sums mentioned were probably not deposited in NZ.  So @Kit Walker what is your point?

[Murray Fish]

1 hour ago, westbrew said:

last thing racing needs is to be seen to be profiting from the proceeds of crime.  

profiting on sin is ok!

ps. back in a day! Many a horse was paid for by Publicans paying in cash! lol, I know of some successful crops of pot! that  have helped fund some horses! 

[Chief Stipe]

Amazing how NZ "journalists" find something out of nothing.  LOL if the journalist wasn't lazy he'd report that a previous AUSTRAC case had  one of about 300+ subjects of investigation turning over more in gambling than is bet on the NZTAB.

That's turnover.

Meanwhile we are expected to suck a lemon over a report that someone turned over $10m?!  20 years ago Kerry Packer tossed a coin for $50m.

[Kit Walker]

The problem is it seems odd that they failed to gather sufficient information on a customer who deposited $15 million into his account. Have you tried taking 1k out of your TAB account at a  pub or TAB outlet? The rigmarole to do that is unbelievable. I don't understand given the amount of previous similar problems ENTAIN have faced and yet they still get pulled up. Their share price has dopped 24% in a month so guessing their shareholders won't be happy reading the latest potential problem.  

Quote

20 years ago Kerry Packer tossed a coin for $50m.

The toss never took place the Texan spluttered and crawled away. Packer called his bluff. 

[Chief Stipe]

1 hour ago, Kit Walker said:

The problem is it seems odd that they failed to gather sufficient information on a customer who deposited $15 million into his account.

How'd they know he was from NZ?

[Kit Walker]

Quote

How'd they know he was from NZ?

From his phone number would be an obvious indication. Knowing his location doesn't exactly constitute due diligence as required under the Act. 

 

[Kit Walker]

It's actually very easy to launder money if your transactions are not getting scrutinized. Find a sports market that gets huge betting activity eg Football Premier League back one team to win and then lay it on Betfair. The slight loss on the dollar for either result is a small amount to pay to wash any possible money laundering activity. 

[Kit Walker]

Updated Apr 1, 2025 – 4.12pm,first published at 4.00pm

Bookmaker behind Ladbrokes turned blind eye to drug money laundering

The British bookmaking giant behind Ladbrokes and Neds allegedly failed to cut off a customer who punted more than $1 million in a single year despite knowing an internationally wanted criminal suspected of trafficking drugs had transferred money into his bank account.

Another customer, according to details filed by the federal anti-money laundering agency with the Federal Court, put more than $20 million through the bookmaker between 2015 and 2022 and was likely a trafficker.

https://www.afr.com/companies/games-and-wagering/court-filings-reveal-entain-s-blind-eye-to-drug-money-laundering-20250401-p5lo5r

Edited 6 hours ago by Kit Walker

[Kit Walker]

Entain shares are now down 26.5% over the last month (20.6% over the past year). That's one hell of drop for a Company listed in the FTSE 100. Shareholders will be screaming for the Company management to get the stock price back on track. No current CEO doesn't exactly help. The last one left abruptly after just a few months which was odd given his wagering background.

Edited 5 hours ago by Kit Walker

[Murray Fish]

1 hour ago, Kit Walker said:

It's actually very easy to launder money if your transactions are not getting scrutinized

the Tab had a near perfect 'launder money bet' earlier this year on NFL,  about 6 weeks out from the superbowl, you could bet either conference to win and 1.90, just keep betting both sides!

[Chief Stipe]

3 hours ago, Kit Walker said:

Updated Apr 1, 2025 – 4.12pm,first published at 4.00pm

Bookmaker behind Ladbrokes turned blind eye to drug money laundering

The British bookmaking giant behind Ladbrokes and Neds allegedly failed to cut off a customer who punted more than $1 million in a single year despite knowing an internationally wanted criminal suspected of trafficking drugs had transferred money into his bank account.

Another customer, according to details filed by the federal anti-money laundering agency with the Federal Court, put more than $20 million through the bookmaker between 2015 and 2022 and was likely a trafficker.

https://www.afr.com/companies/games-and-wagering/court-filings-reveal-entain-s-blind-eye-to-drug-money-laundering-20250401-p5lo5r

As with many of the journalists writing these articles they tend to embellish the facts.  The person referred to in this article who allegedly knew an alleged asian drug trafficker opened an account in 2015 and it was closed in 2022.  AUSTRAC expected ENTAIN to match foreign news reports to the trafficker who allegedly deposited money in the account holders bank account.  The ladbrokes account had a turnover of about $9m in 7 years.  

The second example is similar however as these articles tend to do they infer the turnover was the amount that was allegedly money laundered when the amount is considerably less than that.  AUSTRAC have a dedicated team that has access to a considerable amount of financial data that ENTAIN doesn't.
 

In terms of perspective the Statement of Claim against ENTAIN pales in comparison to the likes of SkyCity, SportsBet, and Westpac.  One punter at SkyCity had a turnover of nearly $2 billion!  Westpac was fined $1.3 billion for 19 million individual breaches of the act.

[Chief Stipe]

3 hours ago, Kit Walker said:

Entain shares are now down 26.5% over the last month (20.6% over the past year). That's one hell of drop for a Company listed in the FTSE 100. Shareholders will be screaming for the Company management to get the stock price back on track. No current CEO doesn't exactly help. The last one left abruptly after just a few months which was odd given his wagering background.

They have an interim CEO - Stella David.  
The EBITDA for the 2024 year is NZ$2.5 billion - so they aren't doing that bad.  In fact the majority of financial analysts are saying buy.  

[Chief Stipe]

14 hours ago, Kit Walker said:

The problem is it seems odd that they failed to gather sufficient information on a customer who deposited $15 million into his account.

Most of the cases mentioned in AUSTRAC's claim go back to 2015.  By international standards $15m isn't large.  Kerry Packer used to bet more than $500k a hand of poker and $10m+ in a sitting.
 

14 hours ago, Kit Walker said:

Have you tried taking 1k out of your TAB account at a  pub or TAB outlet? The rigmarole to do that is unbelievable. I don't understand given the amount of previous similar problems ENTAIN have faced and yet they still get pulled up.

What also isn't mentioned in the embellished articles is that ENTAIN has been improving their AML systems.  Many of the cases date back years and relate to entities that ENTAIN purchased e.g. Ladbrokes.  Most of the accounts in question have already been closed as the new systems have come into service.

So in terms of "previous similar problems" these statutory issues overlap and isn't as if ENTAIN has been sitting on their hands.

If you want to be informed read the 600+ pages of the AUSTRAC Statement of Claim (attached).  I'm sure it will keep you excited for days.

AUSTRAC CEO v Entain Group Pty Ltd - Statement of Claim (redacted).pdf

[westbrew]

Entain Australia is a much smaller operation than the casinos or banks or sportsbet for that matter. The bottom line is the stuff about systems  is a red herring, what all of these Austrac claims show is that the management culture at all of these orgainisations was one of willful blindness, hell a little outfit in the global scale like Ladbrokes Australia and Neds Australia actually have no excuse as the volume of transactions they are dealing with is miniscule on a global scale, there has been really good software around to manage this for over 15 years. The key has been if the management of the organisation have a culture of compliance first and profit second. I believe the culture set by Dean Shannon was one of don't look to hard profit comes first. Now we see turnover in Australia falling as Austrac has made the corporate bookies look a bit harder and so the dodgy money has been drying up. Funny how Shannon and Co turn up in NZ and our turnover is apparently going up, guess he has figured no Austrac in good old NZ.

[westbrew]

Actually that brings up a very important point in New Zealand who does what Austrac does in Australia??? And when was the last time they did an audit of NZ TAB, i don't see any mention in the TAB last annual report that they have had the tick of approval, and i think they would have mentioned it if they have, 

[Kit Walker]

Quote

So in terms of "previous similar problems" these statutory issues overlap and isn't as if ENTAIN has been sitting on their hands.

If they continue to now know their customers who are wagering huge amounts they are not doing much with their hands. 

I don't know what the obsession to compare packer to Entain is? Bizarre. 

[Kit Walker]

The British bookmaking giant behind Ladbrokes and Neds allegedly failed to cut off a customer who punted more than $1 million in a single year despite knowing an internationally wanted criminal suspected of trafficking drugs had transferred money into his bank account.

Another customer, according to details filed by the federal anti-money laundering agency with the Federal Court, put more than $20 million through the bookmaker between 2015 and 2022 and was likely a trafficker who was incorrectly thought to own car yards when he was unemployed.

Entain’s Ladbrokes is one of the most prominent wagering brands in the country.

Getty

Over 640 pages, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre has alleged London-listed Entain repeatedly breached anti-money laundering laws and did not bother to put in proper checks on how some of its biggest customers were financing yearly multi-million dollar betting.

Although Austrac announced its lawsuit against Entain last year, the new filings are the first time the agency is detailing the company’s wrongdoing. Austrac has alleged that the failings by the company’s board and senior management exposed the company’s banking partners and “resulted in serious and systemic non-compliance … over many years”.

Entain is one of the country’s largest online bookmakers and had almost 2 million customers last year with a market share of 17 per cent. It has faced similar lawsuits in the United Kingdom, where it has a market capitalisation of £3.7 billion ($7.6 billion), paying a $29 million fine in 2022 for breaches.

In its claim, Austrac alleges Entain’s poor oversight created money laundering risks with at least 17 customers and $152 million.

According to the new details, Customer 13 deposited more than $4.2 million into two Entain accounts between 2015 and 2022, and Austrac alleges the company should have suspected his funds were suspicious by 2019.

It was then that Customer 13 – names have been redacted in the court documents – provided a bank statement that claimed he had received $150,000 for a “granny flat”. The person who transferred the money was on a “red [international arrest] notice list for serious criminal offences, namely drug crimes and trafficking in a South-East Asian country”.

By 2019, Customer 13 was depositing nearly $69,000 a month. The following year, this had increased to $94,000, or $1.1 million over 12 months.

“A pattern of large amounts of money being regularly moved … on an ongoing basis is not consistent with the transactional activity of an average gambler and involves heightened money laundering and terrorism finance risk,” documents filed by Austrac with the court read. “The amounts of money being deposited and withdrawn … were materially above average total annual deposits and withdrawals for Entain’s customers.”

In 2020, the employee assigned to work with Customer 13 allegedly told Entain that he had “no idea” what his client did for work, although they “believed” that he ran a business when asked about the source of his money.

 

The employee, known as a business development manager, allegedly did not want Entain to contact his client because it might “scare him off”. Business development managers are assigned to high-spending customers and receive commissions for the amount of money they lose.

In another matter, Customer 15 was detected depositing unusually high amounts of money from foreign accounts. Austrac alleges Entain Australia chief executive Dean Shannon personally reviewed the account and decided that he was “very low-risk” because he had been wagering for a decade and publicly available information about his wealth matched his spending.

Meanwhile, Customer 7 wagered $20.2 million between 2015 and 2022 through two Entain accounts, one with Ladbrokes and the other Neds. Austrac alleges that despite Customer 7 sharing a name with a convicted drug trafficker, Entain did not make proper checks until August 2021.

It also alleges Customer 7 displayed unusual depositing and withdrawing patterns from July 2016, and that during the period Entain did not have sufficient information about where the client was getting its money.

In May 2018, according to the court filing, an Entain employee advised the company that his customer owned two Sydney car yards. This information was not confirmed and Customer 7 later told the company that while he was a car salesman, he was not currently employed and owned no car yards.

By August 2021, when it began inquiries, Austrac was aware that Customer 7 was depositing cash and unemployment payments into its accounts. While it closed the Ladbrokes account the following month, Entain did not close Customer 7’s second account, with Neds, until October 2022.

 

Another client, known as Customer 1, was allegedly the subject of negative press and had been convicted of robbery and being part of a criminal gang that had attempted to recover money from a drug deal.

Austrac claims that this information was easily obtainable for Entain from 2008, as were details of Customer 1’s seven-year jail sentence. However, the employee assigned to Customer 1 allegedly asked Entain’s anti-money laundering compliance officer not to contact his client because this could “upset” them, and that they were a “great client” for the company.

Customer 17, another client included in Austrac’s claim, wagered $30.8 million through Ladbrokes in five years, at one point depositing $1 million per month. Customer 17 later told Entain he had made a number of successful “speculative investments” that were never verified. When asked the name of the business he had sold, he said that it was “private”.

Entain eventually cut off his accounts last year when the company concluded that his wealth did not support his wagering activities.

Austrac has pursued several major companies for anti-money laundering law breaches and issued more than $2 billion in penalties since 2015, when it fined Tabcorp $45 million for facilitating dirty funds. The agency has also forced Westpac and Commonwealth Bank to pay respective fines of $1.3 billion and $700 million for anti-money laundering breaches.

Stella David, chief executive of Entain, said the company was taking the allegations seriously. It plans to introduce new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance compliance measures by June 2025.

“We are committed to keeping financial crime out of gambling and continue to play our part in supporting a well-regulated and compliant sector for our customers, stakeholders and the wider community,” she said.

 

-----

 

Yes the above is in the past but new indiscretions keep arising.

 

Stella David, chief executive of Entain, said the company was taking the allegations seriously. It plans to introduce new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance compliance measures by June 2025.

----

Obviously well needed

[westbrew]

Go have a look at The Mitchell Kerr case from Harness racing, that will tell you more on the Ladbrokes Australia and how they made an art of looking the other way. 

[Chief Stipe]

5 minutes ago, westbrew said:

Go have a look at The Mitchell Kerr case from Harness racing, that will tell you more on the Ladbrokes Australia and how they made an art of looking the other way. 

Ladbrokes aren't alone in that regard.  A losing punter is gold.  Ladbrokes started in AUS in 2013.  ENTAIN didn't buy Ladbrokes until 2018 even then it was a precursor to ENTAIN namely GVC.  ENTAINS statutory issues were essentially purchased issues.  

[Chief Stipe]

32 minutes ago, westbrew said:

Entain Australia is a much smaller operation than the casinos or banks or sportsbet for that matter. The bottom line is the stuff about systems  is a red herring, what all of these Austrac claims show is that the management culture at all of these orgainisations was one of willful blindness, hell a little outfit in the global scale like Ladbrokes Australia and Neds Australia actually have no excuse as the volume of transactions they are dealing with is miniscule on a global scale, there has been really good software around to manage this for over 15 years.

Ladbrokes was purchased by ENTAIN.  With regard to the compliance software - it has struggled to keep up with changes in regulations and enforcement agency expectations.  The enforcement agencies have been given access to a considerable amount of data that businesses don't have access to.  Not only that by the agencies have been well funded.  If the systems were that good why did WESTPAC get it so wrong? Even the Commonwealth Bank of Australia got done $700m in 2018 i.e. 7 years ago.

The software is good at raising flags but not so good at aiding investigation.  For example how would Ladbrokes (now ENTAIN) have access to the bank statements of big customers unless they requested them at sign up?  Let alone draw the dots between a report in the media about an asian drug trafficker and a customers bank account?  Especially 15 years ago.  

37 minutes ago, westbrew said:

Funny how Shannon and Co turn up in NZ and our turnover is apparently going up, guess he has figured no Austrac in good old NZ.

That's drawing a long bow.  Are you suggesting our AML enforcement agencies aren't up to scratch?  

[Chief Stipe]

29 minutes ago, Kit Walker said:

The British bookmaking giant behind Ladbrokes and Neds allegedly failed to cut off a customer who punted more than $1 million in a single year despite knowing an internationally wanted criminal suspected of trafficking drugs had transferred money into his bank account.

Another customer, according to details filed by the federal anti-money laundering agency with the Federal Court, put more than $20 million through the bookmaker between 2015 and 2022 and was likely a trafficker who was incorrectly thought to own car yards when he was unemployed.

Entain’s Ladbrokes is one of the most prominent wagering brands in the country.

Getty

Over 640 pages, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre has alleged London-listed Entain repeatedly breached anti-money laundering laws and did not bother to put in proper checks on how some of its biggest customers were financing yearly multi-million dollar betting.

Although Austrac announced its lawsuit against Entain last year, the new filings are the first time the agency is detailing the company’s wrongdoing. Austrac has alleged that the failings by the company’s board and senior management exposed the company’s banking partners and “resulted in serious and systemic non-compliance … over many years”.

Entain is one of the country’s largest online bookmakers and had almost 2 million customers last year with a market share of 17 per cent. It has faced similar lawsuits in the United Kingdom, where it has a market capitalisation of £3.7 billion ($7.6 billion), paying a $29 million fine in 2022 for breaches.

In its claim, Austrac alleges Entain’s poor oversight created money laundering risks with at least 17 customers and $152 million.

According to the new details, Customer 13 deposited more than $4.2 million into two Entain accounts between 2015 and 2022, and Austrac alleges the company should have suspected his funds were suspicious by 2019.

It was then that Customer 13 – names have been redacted in the court documents – provided a bank statement that claimed he had received $150,000 for a “granny flat”. The person who transferred the money was on a “red [international arrest] notice list for serious criminal offences, namely drug crimes and trafficking in a South-East Asian country”.

By 2019, Customer 13 was depositing nearly $69,000 a month. The following year, this had increased to $94,000, or $1.1 million over 12 months.

“A pattern of large amounts of money being regularly moved … on an ongoing basis is not consistent with the transactional activity of an average gambler and involves heightened money laundering and terrorism finance risk,” documents filed by Austrac with the court read. “The amounts of money being deposited and withdrawn … were materially above average total annual deposits and withdrawals for Entain’s customers.”

In 2020, the employee assigned to work with Customer 13 allegedly told Entain that he had “no idea” what his client did for work, although they “believed” that he ran a business when asked about the source of his money.

 

The employee, known as a business development manager, allegedly did not want Entain to contact his client because it might “scare him off”. Business development managers are assigned to high-spending customers and receive commissions for the amount of money they lose.

In another matter, Customer 15 was detected depositing unusually high amounts of money from foreign accounts. Austrac alleges Entain Australia chief executive Dean Shannon personally reviewed the account and decided that he was “very low-risk” because he had been wagering for a decade and publicly available information about his wealth matched his spending.

Meanwhile, Customer 7 wagered $20.2 million between 2015 and 2022 through two Entain accounts, one with Ladbrokes and the other Neds. Austrac alleges that despite Customer 7 sharing a name with a convicted drug trafficker, Entain did not make proper checks until August 2021.

It also alleges Customer 7 displayed unusual depositing and withdrawing patterns from July 2016, and that during the period Entain did not have sufficient information about where the client was getting its money.

In May 2018, according to the court filing, an Entain employee advised the company that his customer owned two Sydney car yards. This information was not confirmed and Customer 7 later told the company that while he was a car salesman, he was not currently employed and owned no car yards.

By August 2021, when it began inquiries, Austrac was aware that Customer 7 was depositing cash and unemployment payments into its accounts. While it closed the Ladbrokes account the following month, Entain did not close Customer 7’s second account, with Neds, until October 2022.

 

Another client, known as Customer 1, was allegedly the subject of negative press and had been convicted of robbery and being part of a criminal gang that had attempted to recover money from a drug deal.

Austrac claims that this information was easily obtainable for Entain from 2008, as were details of Customer 1’s seven-year jail sentence. However, the employee assigned to Customer 1 allegedly asked Entain’s anti-money laundering compliance officer not to contact his client because this could “upset” them, and that they were a “great client” for the company.

Customer 17, another client included in Austrac’s claim, wagered $30.8 million through Ladbrokes in five years, at one point depositing $1 million per month. Customer 17 later told Entain he had made a number of successful “speculative investments” that were never verified. When asked the name of the business he had sold, he said that it was “private”.

Entain eventually cut off his accounts last year when the company concluded that his wealth did not support his wagering activities.

Austrac has pursued several major companies for anti-money laundering law breaches and issued more than $2 billion in penalties since 2015, when it fined Tabcorp $45 million for facilitating dirty funds. The agency has also forced Westpac and Commonwealth Bank to pay respective fines of $1.3 billion and $700 million for anti-money laundering breaches.

Stella David, chief executive of Entain, said the company was taking the allegations seriously. It plans to introduce new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance compliance measures by June 2025.

“We are committed to keeping financial crime out of gambling and continue to play our part in supporting a well-regulated and compliant sector for our customers, stakeholders and the wider community,” she said.

 

-----

 

Yes the above is in the past but new indiscretions keep arising.

 

Stella David, chief executive of Entain, said the company was taking the allegations seriously. It plans to introduce new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance compliance measures by June 2025.

----

Obviously well needed

Again another journalis beat up.

30 minutes ago, Kit Walker said:

Yes the above is in the past but new indiscretions keep arising.

Where is the evidence of that?

31 minutes ago, Kit Walker said:

Stella David, chief executive of Entain, said the company was taking the allegations seriously. It plans to introduce new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance compliance measures by June 2025.

----

Obviously well needed

Yes as is every other organisation handling large sums of money.