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2022
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment
(Making Gambling Businesses Accountable) Bill 2022
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
and
STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS
Circulated by authority of
Andrew Wilkie MP
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment
(Making Gambling Businesses Accountable) Bill 2022
OUTLINE
This bill will ensure that gambling entities are more accountable by preventing them profiting from
illegal behaviour. The bill amends relevant legislation to put a positive obligation on gambling
companies to report to AUSTRAC if they have reason to suspect a person is paying for a gambling
service with money they have obtained illegally.
Where a bettor has paid for a gambling service using funds they obtained illegally, the bill enables
the Federal Court to order the gambling company to compensate the injured party for damage or
loss suffered. This will prevent gambling companies from profiting off the misfortune of others.
Australians are the world's biggest gambling losers per capita. Gambling is an entrenched problem
in the community, and it carries a number of substantial risks including addiction, financial despair
and mental and physical health implications. This bill targets the unconscionable conduct of
gambling companies, to ensure that all money they receive from bettors has not been obtained at
the misfortune of innocent parties.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The bill will have no financial impact.
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1: Short title
1. This clause is a formal provision and specifies the short title of the Act as the Anti-Money
Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment (Making Gambling Businesses
Accountable) Act 2022.
Clause 2: Commencement
2. This clause provides for the commencement of the Act on the day after it receives Royal
Assent.
Clause 3: Schedules
3. This clause establishes that, as the intent of the bill is to be realised through amendments
to another Act, the Schedule of this bill will amend that Act accordingly.
Schedule 1 - Amendments
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006
Item 1: Section 5
1. Item 1 inserts the definition of "stolen property", as it is in section 132.1 of the Criminal
Code Act 1995, into the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006.
Item 2: At the end of subsection 41(1)
2. Item 2 extends the suspicious matter reporting obligation to include gambling companies
who have cause to suspect on reasonable grounds that the bettor is proposing to pay for
the supply of the gambling service with stolen property.
Item 3: Paragraph 41(2)(a)
3. Item 3 inserts a provision requiring the gambling company to give the AUSTRAC CEO a
report about the suspicious matter, implemented by Item 2, within three business days of
forming the suspicion.
Item 4: Subsection 41(5)
4. Item 4 states that the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules may
specify matters to be taken into account when determining whether there are reasonable
grounds for the gambling company to form a suspicion that the bettor is proposing to pay
for the supply of the gambling service with stolen property, as implemented by Item 2.
Item 5: After Part 8
5. Item 5 inserts two provisions under a new Part 8A - Suspicious gambling.
6. Sections 100A and 100B stipulate that a reporting entity, of which a gambling company is,
must not provide a gambling service to a person if they have reason to believe the person
will pay for the service with property they have obtained illegally. Section 100B(1) is a civil
penalty provision.
Item 6: Section 173
7. Item 6 allows for compensation orders to be made where a gambling company provides a
gambling service to a person where they ought reasonably to have suspected that the
person would pay for the gambling service using property obtained illegally. This extends
the current reach of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006
beyond pecuniary penalties.
Item 7: After Division 2 of Part 15
8. Item 7 inserts a provision which allows the Federal Court to make a compensation order to
compensate an injured person. An injured person is a person who has suffered, or is likely
to suffer, loss or damage because another person has paid for a gambling service using
property they obtained illegally from the injured person.
9. For the Federal Court to make such an order, it must receive an application from the
injured person(s), or from the AUSTRAC CEO on behalf of the injured person(s). The
AUSTRAC CEO must not make such an application unless they have received consent in
writing from the injured person(s).
10. An application can still be made in circumstances where there has been no enforcement
action for the conduct which could constitute the breach.
11. Any order made by the Federal Court must be an order the Court believes will compensate
any injured person(s) in whole or in part for the loss or damage, or prevent or reduce the
loss or damage suffered by any injured person(s).
STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment
(Making Gambling Businesses Accountable) Bill 2022
This bill is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the
international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act
2011.
Overview of the bill
This bill will ensure that gambling entities are more accountable by preventing them profiting from
illegal behaviour. The bill amends relevant legislation to put a positive obligation on gambling
companies to report to AUSTRAC if they have reason to suspect a person is paying for a gambling
service with money they have obtained illegally.
Where a bettor has paid for a gambling service using funds they obtained illegally, the bill enables
the Federal Court to order the gambling company to compensate the injured party for damage or
loss suffered. This will prevent gambling companies from profiting off the misfortune of others.
Australians are the world's biggest gambling losers per capita. Gambling is an entrenched problem
in the community, and it carries a number of substantial risks including addiction, financial despair
and mental and physical health implications. This bill targets the unconscionable conduct of
gambling companies, to ensure that all money they receive from bettors has not been obtained at
the misfortune of innocent parties.
Human rights implications
This bill does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
This bill is compatible with human rights because it does not raise any human rights issues.
Andrew Wilkie MP