The Federal Court has approved a $45 million fine for gaming giant Tabcorp over non-compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.
Tabcorp and Australia's financial intelligence unit, AUSTRAC, which took action against Tabcorp in 2015, reached agreement on the fine on February 16.
Tabcorp has admitted it did not inform AUSTRAC on all occasions on which it has been suspicious of illegal betting activity.
"The penallty of $45 million sends an unequivocal message to the financial and gambling sectors in this country, if you don't take your AML (anti-money laundering) and CTF (counter-terrorism financing) obligations seriously, we will take action," AUSTRAC chief executive Paul Jevtovic said on Thursday.
The Federal Court found Tabcorp had contravened anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws on 108 occasions over five years, Mr Jevtovic said.
The company's contraventions represented a serious failure of corporate governance, and arose from a corporate culture that was indifferent to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing requirements, he said.
"Cultures such as this put not only the organisation itself at risk but the community, by creating opportunities for organised crime groups and serious criminals and others to divert their criminal wealth to the black market and fund other illegal activities such as drug trafficking," Mr Jevtovic said.
"The financial and gambling sectors are the first line of defence in preventing this from happening."
Tabcorp chief executive David Attenborough said Tabcorp was committed to working co-operatively with AUSTRAC.
"We have made a significant investment in enhancing our AML/CTF compliance over the last three years and remain focused on being the industry leader in regulatory compliance across all of our operations," he said.
