The biggest name in gambling in Australia, Tabcorp Holdings, is being taken to court by Australia’s financial intelligence unit, Austrac, claiming that Tabcorp has failed to comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.
The civil action in the federal court will be resisted by Tabcorp, which has issued a statement that it “takes its compliance obligations extremely seriously” and that “Tabcorp is reviewing the nature of the proceedings and will inform the market of its intended response.”
Austrac, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, is taking the action against Tabcorp Holdings and its New South Wales and Victorian wagering businesses.
The financial penalty for a contravention of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws is AU$17m (€11.5m). Austrac said that it had comprehensively assessed Tabcorp’s finance compliance and it believed that Tabcorp had failed to take steps to make improvements.
“Non-compliance of this nature provides opportunities for organised crime to exploit vulnerabilities and puts at risk the integrity of the Australian financial system,” said Austrac in a statement.
It added: “Austrac works to keep dirty money out of our financial system which helps protect the Australian community from serious and organised crime. Tabcorp shares on the Australian Stock Market quickly fell by 10.5 cents to AU$4.875.
