AUSTRAC Locks bet365 Into Mandatory AML Rebuild After Years of Scrutiny

Key Points

• The regulator has made an enforcement of an undertaking that legally binds bet365 to rebuild its money laundering policies and suspicious transaction reports.
• The investigation spans operations conducted between 1 July 2016 and 2 November 2022 with two independent reviews validating the non-compliance with AUSTRAC regulations.
• A progress report must be submitted by 31 December 2026 while an independent confirmation from auditors must be provided on 30 July 2027.

AUSTRAC did not relent. On 6 July 2026, the regulatory body reached a legally enforceable undertaking agreement with the bookmaker from Stoke which demands a complete overhaul of its policy on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing due to serious gaps in its risk identification and suspicious transactions reporting processes.

Nobody should mistake this for a caution. Breaches pull civil penalty consequences directly under both the undertaking and the AML/CTF Act, handing AUSTRAC a firm enforcement mechanism the moment bet365 misses any obligation.

What bet365 Is Now Legally Obligated to Fix?

The scope of the rebuild is not narrow. bet365 must establish a continuous, methodology-driven risk assessment approach, not a quarterly exercise but a live process that shifts as the threat landscape does. Customer risk models need upgrading, control documentation must be rebuilt with proper testing behind it, and suspicious transaction detection cannot stay where it was.

Under the terms agreed, bet365 must hand AUSTRAC a remedial action plan and supply any documents the regulator calls for at any point during the process. An independent external auditor sits above the whole operation, verifying progress and reporting directly to AUSTRAC at fixed intervals.

AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas left little room for interpretation. “Gambling businesses pose an inherent money laundering risk and we are focusing on the risks to the Australian economy from money laundering through this sector,” he said. The industry’s reliance on fast, largely anonymous digital channels is precisely what draws criminal attention, Thomas noted, and when controls slip, the damage reaches far beyond whichever company lets them slide.

The Paper Trail Behind This Action Goes Back Nearly a Decade

Nothing about this undertaking came out of nowhere. The concerns raised by AUSTRAC include a period of time from 1 July 2016 to 2 November 2022, six-plus years during which the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing system of the company did not meet the demands set out by section 81 of the AML/CTF Act.

AUSTRAC first raised these concerns in August 2022. Three months later, bet365 received the direction to hire an external auditor to look into the issues. The results obtained in September 2023 confirmed that the identified issues were serious and systematic. Subsequently, bet365 carried out an independent internal audit, which was submitted to AUSTRAC in February 2025, and this further increased the concerns of the agency.

The study, which led to the project, was officially commenced in March 2024, and this was based on the audit sequence above. The company bet365 accepted the findings and took voluntary corrective actions under section 197 of the Act.

The Deadlines Are Firm and the Clock Is Already Running

bet365’s Australian entity, Hillside (Australia New Media) Pty Ltd, must put a mid-year progress report in front of AUSTRAC by 31 December 2026. Full implementation must be confirmed in a final auditor’s report by 30 July 2027. Until AUSTRAC formally cancels the undertaking or bet365 withdraws from it, the obligations do not expire.

Missing a clause does not earn bet365 a follow-up letter. AUSTRAC can pursue civil penalty proceedings directly, skipping the usual administrative steps the moment a breach is confirmed. Worth noting: the minimum standards written into this undertaking are not bet365-specific. They reflect what AUSTRAC expects from every reporting business across the sector.

AUSTRAC Is Working Through the Sector Systematically

The action against bet365 is one part of a coordinated push AUSTRAC has been running across the gambling industry. Just days before the bet365 announcement, the regulator confirmed it had closed the enforceable undertaking with Flutter-owned Sportsbet, first accepted in May 2024.

Sportsbet spent roughly two years rebuilding its governance, risk management, customer monitoring, and reporting processes under an auditor’s watch. AUSTRAC confirmed on 3 July 2026 that every requirement had been satisfied, closing the undertaking.

The structural parallel is not coincidental. Both operators were steered toward external audits after AUSTRAC identified concerns through sector supervision, Sportsbet in 2022, and bet365 around the same time. Sportsbet made it through after nearly two years of remediation. bet365 is now standing at the same starting point.

Entain is in a different position altogether. AUSTRAC launched Federal Court proceedings against the Ladbrokes and Neds parent in December 2024, alleging systemic AML/CTF breaches. That case goes before the court on 30 November 2026. Entain has booked an A$100 m provision against a potential penalty, though CEO Stella David was careful to distance the figure from certainty during the company’s Q2 2025 earnings call. “There is no certainty that the quantum reflects what might be a potential penalty,” David said. “We are currently in early-stage mediation.”

Tabcorp is also under investigation. The sector-wide review has not peaked.

Expert Analysis

Three enforcement actions, each one with tighter consequences than the one before. Sportsbet went through the process and came out the other side. bet365 is entering the same cycle, except its compliance failures trace back to 2016, making the structural problem considerably deeper than Sportsbet’s was. Entain is in court. The pattern AUSTRAC has established is not subtle: operators that fail to prove continuous, evidence-based AML improvement get escalating consequences, not diplomatic correspondence. bet365’s December 2026 progress report is the first real signal of whether its remediation has substance behind it or is moving on paper alone. AUSTRAC cleared Sportsbet on a Friday and announced the bet365 undertaking days later; it is not approaching this with any sign of caution.