Tabcorp profit falls one-third on AML fines, Sun Bets startup costs

Australian gambling operator Tabcorp Holdings‘ profit fell by one-third in the first half of its fiscal year, weighed down by a money laundering fine and startup costs for its UK online betting site.

Tabcorp’s revenue in the six months ending Dec. 31, 2015 rose 1.8% to A$1.135b, while earnings rose a similar amount to $266m and profit rose 7.3% to $97.5m. But $15.6m in significant after-tax items caused profit to fall 33% year-on-year to $81.9m.

Those significant items included $7.2m to resolve civil proceedings launched last year by Aussie financial watchdog AUSTRAC, who accused Tabcorp of falling down on its anti-money laundering (AML) responsibilities.

A further $8.4m was spent preparing Sun Bets, Tabcorp’s UK-facing online betting JV with News UK. The site will launch sometime in Q4 of this year and Tabcorp is busy building a 50-person team in the UK. The company also signed a three-year deal with Digital Fuel Marketing to serve as Tabcorp’s exclusive digital marketing and creative services provider in the UK and Ireland.