July 3 (Reuters) – Australia’s financial crime watchdog said on Friday that online betting firm Sportsbet had completed required improvements to its anti-money laundering controls after it admitted serious deficiencies two years ago.
The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre accepted the company’s remediation undertaking in 2024, following some concerns it had raised over Sportsbet’s compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations, including risk assessment, customer monitoring and suspicious matter reporting.
“Sportsbet was required to undertake significant remediation to uplift its systems, controls and governance,” AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said in a statement, adding that the requirements have now been met.
Sportsbet, which calls itself Australia’s biggest sports betting firm, declined to comment.
An external auditor assured the regulator that the company had implemented the necessary remediation measures.
AUSTRAC said it would continue to closely monitor the gambling sector, which it considers vulnerable to money laundering risks, particularly in online environments where transactions occur rapidly and with limited face-to-face interaction.
The watchdog had first ordered an audit of Flutter Entertainment -owned Sportsbet in 2022 as online betting surged in Australia after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic forced physical stores to shut.
(Reporting by Keshav Singh Chundawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
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