Bet365 has entered a legally binding, court-enforceable undertaking with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), after the regulator identified serious weaknesses in how the online bookmaker assesses money laundering risk and reports suspicious activity.
According to Alessa, signed on 6 July 2026, the undertaking carries the same legal weight as a court order, meaning any breach could trigger immediate civil litigation rather than further warnings.
The agreement requires bet365 to rebuild its risk assessment methodology from the ground up, documenting senior management sign-off and defining clear triggers for reassessment, while also strengthening its ability to detect and escalate suspicious transactions as new risks emerge. AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said, “gambling businesses pose an inherent money laundering risk,” adding that the regulator’s focus remains on the threats the sector poses to the Australian economy.
The gambling and gaming sector has long been flagged by global standard-setters as especially exposed to money laundering and terrorist financing risk, owing to high transaction volumes, rapid settlement speeds and often cash-intensive or anonymous payment channels. UK figures reinforce the point: gambling firms filed more than 7,000 Suspicious Activity Reports in 2025, while the UK Gambling Commission took enforcement action against 24 operators over the same period, separately fining the bet365 group £582,120 (US$735,150) for AML and social responsibility failures.
Bet365’s undertaking places it alongside a widening list of operators under AUSTRAC scrutiny. Sportsbet’s own undertaking, accepted in May 2024, was completed in July 2026 following AML remediation, while Entain remains before the Federal Court as of mid-2026. Together, the cases point to a consistent regulatory trajectory, from audit findings to formal, enforceable action.
For compliance teams, the lesson extends well beyond gambling. Risk assessments completed once and revisited only at audit time cannot keep pace with new products, customer types or geographies. Regulators increasingly expect living programmes, with real-time transaction monitoring, tight Suspicious Matter Report timelines, and governance that scales as transaction volumes grow. AUSTRAC’s action against bet365 is a reminder that an AML programme is only as strong as its most outdated component, and regulators are actively looking for that gap.
Read the full Alessa post here.
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
