A commissioner appointed to review the suitability of SkyCity Adelaide to hold Adelaide’s monopoly casino license has issued a direction for the company to appoint an independent expert to oversee the revision of its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing programs.
In an update provided early Monday morning, SkyCity Entertainment Group revealed that the commissioner, the Honourable Brian Martin AO KC, would personally approve the appointment of this expert, who would also be asked to make any necessary amendments to SkyCity Adelaide’s AML/CTF programs, monitor their implementation, conduct a similar procedure in relation to harm minimization efforts and report all information back to the commissioner.
This, SkyCity has been informed, will provide an “independent perspective of SkyCity Adelaide’s AML/CTF and host responsibility enhancement programmes and an additional layer of assurance.”
Martin was appointed to conduct his review by Consumer and Business Services in July 2022 following inquiries in other states into Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment Group – all of which uncovered serious instances of AML and responsible gambling compliance failures. Australia’s AML watchdog AUSTRAC also revealed in June 2021 that it was investigating all three operators – Crown, Star and SkyCity – for potentially serious breaches of Anti-Money Laundering laws before subsequently launching civil penalty proceedings against all three, including SkyCity in December 2022.
Martin’s review was officially put on hold in February 2023 pending the outcome of the AUSTRAC investigation – the findings of which have not yet been finalized.
SkyCity said Monday that it will continue to cooperate with Consumer and Business Services and on any further requests for information and documents.
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