An Adelaide casino has agreed to pay a watchdog’s costs to the tune of $67 million (US$44.6 million) in penalties.
The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) initiated civil action against SkyCity Adelaide in December 2022, alleging violations of money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.
Following negotiations, the regulator and the casino reached a settlement in May, with SkyCity admitting to unlawful conduct spanning from 2016 to 2022. As part of the agreement, the casino failed to meet its obligations and neglected to conduct proper ongoing customer analysis.
AUSTRAC revealed that SkyCity allowed high-risk customers to move significant sums of money through the casino, obscuring the source of the funds in the process.
“SkyCity provided services to high-risk customers through risky channels without implementing appropriate risk-based controls,” stated the regulator in a release on June 7.
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SkyCity will settle the regulator’s costs within 14 days.
In a ruling on June 7, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee deemed the interaction between AUSTRAC and SkyCity to be thorough, approving the $3 million (US$2 million) in costs to be paid by the casino on top of the $67 million penalty from May.
Justice Lee criticized the lack of evidence from AUSTRAC, stating that the regulator should have provided an estimate of the financial gain the casino obtained through its illegal activities.
This marks AUSTRAC’s second successful civil penalty against casinos, following Crown’s $450 million (US$300 million) penalty over two years for its Melbourne and Perth establishments.
SkyCity announced the resolution of the proceedings to the share market on the morning of June 7.
