A Federal Court judge who handed The Star Entertainment a AU$260m penalty earlier this week has raised concerns over experts’ reports in the Entain vs AUSTRAC case.
Reports from the Australian Financial Review state that Federal Court Justice Cameron Moore has criticised experts on both sides of the argument for relying too heavily on what was and was not included in an internal corporate document.
For context, Entain and financial regulator AUSTRAC are set to go to trial next month after the latter alleged that the former allowed 17 high-risk customers to spend over $152m without proper background checks.
In response, UK-headquartered and -listed Entain, which runs the Ladbrokes and Neds brands in Australia, has since reportedly introduced new anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) measures.
The latest development in the case saw Justice Moore accuse AUSTRAC’s expert of not providing real expertise, but rather simply looking at an internal document – this being’s Entain’s risk register.
Justice Moore added that after looking at the document, AUSTRAC’s expert then pointed out which topics were missing and declared that Entain’s assessment was not reasonable.
To counter this, AUSTRAC claimed that Entain’s expert did the exact same thing, something Justice Moore also agreed with – essentially stating that Entain has also relied too heavily on the wording, or lack of wording, in just one document.
Will Entain/AUSTRAC case continue recent gambling crackdown?
As mentioned above, Moore ruled in favour of AUSTRAC earlier this week in its case against The Star Entertainment, ordering the Bally’s-owned business to pay $260m for AML and CTF law breaches.
Bally’s later told SBC: “We take the importance of these historical matters and the regulatory obligations of casino operators very seriously.
“At the same time, we are encouraged by the significant progress The Star has made under its new leadership and remediation program, supported by Bally’s operational and regulatory compliance expertise. That progress is increasingly evident.”
Should the case against Entain go the same way, it may represent a turn in the tide in a market where many believe operators have largely got away with regulatory breaches in recent years.
A report by Consumer Expert, Adam Glezer, in August detailed that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) had only handed out two financial penalties to operators in breach of BetStop rules.
Glezer told SBC that “at least a dozen distinct wagering operators [have been] found in breach since BetStop’s launch”.
There has been overwhelming backlash against the gambling sector in recent months, forcing the hand of Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, into introducing more stringent measures for operators.
A package of marketing restrictions were criticised by Albanese’s political opponents as being too lenient on the sector, with many calling for an outright ban on gambling advertising. The absence of a dedicated national gambling regulator is another point of contention.
Whether or not Entain vs AUSTRAC will be another case that ends up in a loss for an operator may be revealed next month.
