Barni Evans said the company failed to prevent financial crime and integrity risks in sports betting.
Australia.- Barni Evans, Sportsbet’s CEO, has said the company did not fully understand its duty to prevent financial crime and protect sports from integrity threats. At an industry conference in Sydney, Evans admitted Sportsbet “forgot to do some grownup things” and “stuffed a lot of things up”, including its involvement in an advertising “arms race”.
According to The Guardian, Evans said that, in the past, Sportsbet did a “terrible job” of notifying sports organisations about betting transactions that could threaten integrity. He said the company now realises the importance of protecting Australians from organised and financial crime.
Evans also said the gambling industry and government agencies had been slow to create a national self-exclusion system. Legislation was introduced in 2018, but the register was not launched until August 2023.
Last May, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) accepted an enforceable undertaking from Sportsbets to improve its compliance with the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) laws after reviewing an external auditor’s report and Sportsbet’s efforts to meet legal requirements. Sportsbet was ordered to implement a detailed remedial action plan to enhance its AML/CTF program, with AUSTRAC to oversee progress.
A report by Equity Economics for the Alliance for Gambling Reform and Wesley Mission has found that gambling losses continue to grow in Australia. The research found that annual gambling losses for 2022-23 amounted to AU$1,527 (US$960) per adult, while total gambling losses stood at AU$31.5bn (US$19.8bn). They said gambling rose despite a rise in the costs of essential goods and services and a decline in real wages.
According to Equity Economics, although wages have declined 5.7 per cent in real terms since June 2019, real gambling expenditure has risen by 6.8 per cent. This occurred in every state and territory.
The Alliance for Gambling Reform and Wesley Mission urged the government to implement all 31 recommendations from the Murphy Inquiry, including a ban on gambling ads, the prohibition of gambling inducements and the introduction of a levy on gambling to fund harm reduction programmes.
