THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS
INSIDE INFORMATION
Entain
plc
("Entain"
or the "Group")
Acknowledgement of AUSTRAC's commencement of civil penalty
proceedings
Entain plc (LSE: ENT), the global
sports betting and gaming group, acknowledges that the Australian
Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre ("AUSTRAC", the Australian
anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulator)
has today commenced civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court
of Australia against Entain Group Pty Ltd, the Group's subsidiary
in Australia ("Entain Australia"). AUSTRAC's media release
published in connection with the commencement of these proceedings
can be found on AUSTRAC's website at the following address:
https://www.austrac.gov.au/news-and-media/media-release/austrac-takes-ladbrokes-and-neds-operator-entain-federal-court-over-serious-non-compliance-australias-money-laundering-laws.
Entain is carefully considering the Originating Application and
Concise Statement filed and served by AUSTRAC.
The proceedings against Entain
Australia relate to alleged contraventions of the Australian
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (the
"Act"), identified as part of AUSTRAC's enforcement investigation
of Entain Australia. The Act requires those it regulates to
identify, mitigate and manage risks of money laundering and
terrorist financing. As the Group has previously disclosed, this
investigation was announced by AUSTRAC in September
2022.
Entain has co-operated fully with
AUSTRAC throughout its investigation, and in December 2022
commenced a programme of further enhancements to Entain Australia's
anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing ("AML and
CTF") systems and processes. This dedicated programme, as
communicated to AUSTRAC, is due to be completed in June
2025.
We note the previous penalties in
AUSTRAC proceedings in the gaming sector and, whilst the outcome of
the civil penalty proceedings against Entain Australia is
uncertain, it may result in a penalty being levied which could be
potentially material. The level of any penalty is ultimately
a matter for the Federal Court of Australia, which proceedings may
take some time.
Gavin Isaacs, CEO of Entain,
commented:
"We note the allegations made, which
we take extremely seriously.
We have co-operated fully with
AUSTRAC throughout its investigation and we are implementing
further enhancements to Entain Australia's AML and CTF compliance
arrangements. Whilst we still have some
further improvements to make, we expect these to be implemented in
line with the plan we communicated to AUSTRAC in 2023.
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."
Entain will make such further
announcements in relation to this matter as required.
This announcement contains
information that qualifies or may qualify as inside information
within the meaning of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU)
No. 596/2014 as it forms part of English law by virtue of the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The person responsible for
releasing this announcement on behalf of the Entain is Simon
Zinger, Group General Counsel.
Upon the publication of this
announcement via a regulatory information service, this inside
information is now considered to be in the public
domain.
Enquiries:
About Entain
plc
Entain plc (LSE: ENT) is a FTSE100
company and is one of the world's largest sports betting and gaming
groups, operating both online and in the retail sector. The Group
owns a comprehensive portfolio of established brands; Sports brands
include BetCity, bwin, Coral, Crystalbet, Eurobet, Ladbrokes, Neds,
Sportingbet, Sports Interaction, STS and SuperSport; Gaming brands
include Foxy Bingo, Gala, GiocoDigitale, Ninja Casino, Optibet,
Partypoker and PartyCasino. The group operates the TAB NZ brand as
part of a long-term strategic partnership with TAB New Zealand. The
Group owns proprietary technology across all its core product
verticals and, in addition to its B2C operations, provides services
to a number of third-party customers on a B2B basis.
The Group has a 50/50 joint venture,
BetMGM, a leader in sports betting and iGaming in the US. Entain
provides the technology and capabilities which power BetMGM as well
as exclusive games and products, specially developed at its
in-house gaming studios. The Group is tax resident in the UK and is
the only global operator to exclusively operate in domestically
regulated or regulating markets operating in over 30
territories.
Entain is a leader in ESG, a member
of FTSE4Good, the DJSI and is AAA rated by MSCI. For more
information see the Group's website: www.entaingroup.com.
Important
notices
Certain statements in this
announcement are forward-looking statements which are made in good
faith, including with respect to Entain's current expectations,
intentions and projections regarding its future performance,
strategic initiatives, anticipated events or trends and other
matters that are not historical facts and which are, by their
nature, inherently predictive, speculative and involve risks and
uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on
circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. All
statements that address expectations or projections about the
future, including statements about operating performance, strategic
initiatives, objectives, market position, industry trends, general
economic conditions, expected expenditures, expected cost savings
and financial results are forward‐looking statements. Any
statements contained in this announcement that are not statements
of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward‐looking
statements. These forward-looking statements, which may use words
such as "aim", "anticipate", "believe", "could", "intend",
"estimate", "expect", "may", "plan", "project", "will" or words or
terms of similar meaning or the negative thereof, are not
guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and
unknown risks and uncertainties. There are a number of factors
including, but not limited to, commercial, operational, economic
and financial factors, that could cause actual results, financial
condition, performance or achievements to differ materially from
those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are
beyond Entain's ability to control or estimate precisely, such as
changes in taxation or fiscal policy, future market conditions,
currency fluctuations, the behaviour of other market participants,
the actions of governments or governmental regulators, or other
risk factors, such as changes in the political, social and
regulatory framework in which Entain operates or in economic or
technological trends or conditions, including inflation, recession
and consumer confidence, on a global, regional or national basis.
Given those risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date of this announcement. Entain
and its affiliates, and any of its or their respective directors,
officers, partners, employees, advisers or agents (collectively,
"Representatives") expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking
to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise
unless required to do so by applicable law or
regulation.
In particular, no statement in this
announcement is intended to be a profit forecast or profit estimate
and no statement of a financial metric (including estimates of
EBITDA, profit before tax, free cash flow or net debt) should be
interpreted to mean that any financial metric for the current or
future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the
historical published position of Entain and its subsidiaries.
Certain statements in this announcement may contain estimates. The
estimates set out in this announcement have been prepared based on
numerous assumptions and forecasts, some of which are outside of
Entain's influence and/or control, and is therefore inherently
uncertain and there can be no guarantee or assurance that it will
be correct. The estimates have not been audited, reviewed, verified
or subject to any procedures by Entain's auditors. Undue reliance
should not be placed on them and there can be no guarantee or
assurance that they will be correct.
This announcement is being issued by
and is the sole responsibility of Entain. No representation or
warranty, express or implied, is or will be made as to, or in
relation to, and no responsibility or liability is or will be
accepted by or on behalf of, Entain (apart from the
responsibilities or liabilities that may be imposed by the
Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as amended or the
regulatory regime established thereunder) or by its affiliates or
any of its Representatives as to, or in relation to, the accuracy,
adequacy, fairness or completeness of this announcement or any
other written or oral information made available to or publicly
available to any interested party or its advisers or any other
statement made or purported to be made by or on behalf of Entain or
any of its affiliates or any of its Representatives in connection
with Entain and any responsibility and liability whether arising in
tort, contract or otherwise therefore is expressly
disclaimed.
LEI: 213800GNI3K45LQR8L28
