A major Sydney club group is under fire after being accused of serious failures in stopping suspected criminal activity. The group, which runs multiple venues across New South Wales, is now facing legal action from the national financial crime watchdog. This case has drawn attention to the growing concerns around how gambling venues manage large flows of cash and the risks of money laundering.
Club Group Faces Serious Allegations Over Money Laundering Risks
One of Sydney’s largest and most profitable club groups is in serious trouble. A federal watchdog has launched legal action against a well-known suburban club group for failing to stop suspected money laundering through its gaming machines. The group, known as Mounties (Mount Pritchard District and Community Club), owns 10 venues across New South Wales. Eight of these venues operate about 1,400 poker machines, making hundreds of millions of dollars every year from gambling.
The financial crime regulator, AUSTRAC, announced that it has started civil penalty proceedings against Mounties. This means the club is being taken to court, not for a criminal case, but for possible serious breaches of anti-money laundering laws. These breaches are considered “systemic” and “serious,” according to the regulator.
Brendan Thomas, AUSTRAC’s Chief Executive, said Mounties had a big responsibility to prevent its venues from being misused by criminals. He warned that businesses operating at this scale in a cash-heavy sector must manage the risk of dirty money moving through their systems. According to AUSTRAC, Mounties failed to do that properly.
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Weak Monitoring and Poor Staff Training Exposed
According to AUSTRAC, the problems at Mounties include poor monitoring of gambling transactions and a lack of proper training for staff. The regulator also found that the club did not do enough to check where customers’ money was coming from. This is a key step in stopping illegal funds from flowing through poker machines.
AUSTRAC said the club’s anti-money laundering program was not good enough. The risk assessment was weak. The training given to staff was not enough to help them spot suspicious behavior. The systems used to check customers and watch for unusual transactions were not working the way they should.
Some customers who were clearly high-risk were not being properly monitored, AUSTRAC claimed. This is very concerning in a venue that processes millions of dollars in cash each year. In businesses where large amounts of cash are used, there is always a higher risk of criminals trying to “clean” their money by gambling.
Brendan Thomas stated that verifying a customer’s source of funds in such a cash-intensive environment requires a strong and active approach. He emphasized that Mounties had failed to meet these expectations.
Government Still Delaying Mandatory Cashless Gambling
The news comes as the New South Wales government continues to delay strong gambling reforms. In 2023, the NSW Crime Commission revealed that a large portion of the $95 billion that went through the state’s poker machines in one year came from criminal activity.
In response to this finding, then-premier Dominic Perrottet promised to introduce mandatory cashless gambling. However, he lost office before the rollout could happen.
His successor, Premier Chris Minns, chose instead to run a trial of the technology. But the trial only had 14 participants and didn’t deliver the expected results. Premier Minns later said the system had not proven effective in reducing problem gambling or money laundering. He also noted the high costs of compliance and the low interest from users.
Despite recommendations from an independent gambling reform panel to adopt mandatory cashless gaming, the government has yet to act. A spokesperson for NSW Gaming Minister David Harris said the government would respond “in due course.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Court will decide whether Mounties broke the law. If it finds that the club did, it will then decide what penalty to apply. Mounties has been approached for comment but has not responded publicly.