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Billionaire “Aussie” John Symond’s lesser-known cousins Paul and Daniel have been for years the go-to consultants for registered clubs seeking to stick within the letter of the law.
Their “BetSafe” responsible gambling stickers are ubiquitous in suburban pokie dens. The brand is so well regarded that its name is enshrined in law as one of the few pre-approved counselling services that clubs and pubs are required to advertise in their gambling areas.
While billionaire entrepreneur John Symond was building his business overseas in 2014, so were his lesser known cousins in Australia.Jessica Hromas
But explosive court documents tendered in the financial crimes watchdog’s prosecution of Mounties suggest that the Symonds were not the safe pairs of hands that their clients imagined. Mounties faces fines of up to $31 million for each breach of money-laundering laws that is found to have occurred while it relied on BetSafe to ensure it was compliant.
For a business that began as a gambling counselling service, the stakes are suddenly, dizzyingly high.
The late Paul Symond founded BetSafe in 1998, long before the notion of poker machines being used to launder money was contemplated, and later brought his son Daniel into the business. Paul had previously run the responsible gambling program at Star City, and several large clubs asked if he would be interested in rolling out a similar program in clubland.
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Although he seldom spoke of it, Paul Symond was himself a recovered gambling addict. He favoured a light touch in dealing with people at risk of gambling harm, such as gentle check-ins on those displaying particular behaviours, and did not support $1 bets or requiring players to make pre-commitments on how much they wished to spend – principles that aligned with the clubs’ views.
The clubs paid BetSafe tens of thousands of dollars each year for stickers with the gambling hotline to be attached to their poker machines and to undergo quarterly compliance audits. The program gave gambling rooms an aura of respectability without denting their profits, and clubs flocked to join up.
In 2002, the business took a boost when the NSW government directly named BetSafe as an approved provider under a new regulation that required all pubs and clubs to advertise counselling services in their gambling rooms.
Rowan Cameron, a former responsible gambling manager at ClubsNSW and Crown, said BetSafe essentially provided a box-ticking exercise for clubs to meet their legal requirements. But the new law delivered it a financial windfall.
“It was a real privilege for a for-profit organisation,” Cameron said.
The halo effect conferred by an association with BetSafe became a billable item. Court documents show that among the services it agreed to provide Mounties under a 2011 retainer was “enhancement of public image by the distinctive and recognisable BetSafe trademark”.
Mounties relied on the money-laundering program provided by BetSafe when it allowed hundreds of millions of dollars to be washed through its pokies.Sitthixay Ditthavong
The model was so successful that in 2003 BetSafe took it global as a founding member of the Global Gambling Guidance Group, an international consortium that charged clients for “accreditation” as responsible gambling providers. Daniel Symond remains on the board of the organisation, which runs on its website testimonials from gambling companies spruiking their “monumental” achievements in gaining accreditation.
BetSafe’s reputation was now solidified as the gold standard.
BetSafe director Daniel Symond appeared in a 2022 webinar advising clubs how to stay compliant.YouTube
So when the federal government introduced new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) requirements for clubs and pubs, BetSafe added an anti-money laundering compliance program to its list of services. There was no legal requirement for those delivering such programs to have qualifications in AML/CTF. Daniel Symond’s background was in IT.
“Most clubs didn’t understand their obligations and the pokie industry broadly found it all too confusing,” Cameron said.
“BetSafe’s manual was a cut-and-paste from the ClubsNSW one. They knew diddly squat about it, but they were able to position themselves as being at the forefront of this space and, of course, no one really was.
“Rather than empowering the clubs to be educated about their obligations and stand on their own two feet, BetSafe managed to cultivate a childlike reliance on them.”
Ultimate responsibility for AML/CTF compliance lies with venues, not their advisers.
BetSafe’s client base grew to more than 80 clubs, and business was booming. Court documents show that Mounties alone paid BetSafe more than $600,000 over a 4½-year period, with an average of $10,733 a month.
In September 2019, it was time for Mounties to subject itself to a review of its money-laundering policies as required under federal law. This was no trivial matter: the reviews are essential to ensure any non-compliance is picked up and corrected, and must be genuinely independent.
A neat solution quickly emerged when Symond told Mounties that he had someone in mind that they could hire to conduct the audit: Richard Brading.
For many years, Brading had been on the side of angels in the gambling sector, including 20 years as a solicitor for Wesley Community Legal Service.
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But Brading had been closely connected to Symond and BetSafe for many years. According to his LinkedIn page, he was legal counsel for BetSafe from 1999 to 2019. ASIC documents show that Legal Review and BetSafe also shared the same registered address and PO box through the small accounting firm Wheeler Grenfell.
Legal Review charged just $500 for each of its five annual reviews, and each time gave Mounties a clear bill of health despite the rampant money laundering that was occurring, AUSTRAC has claimed in court documents. In another sign of the close relationship, BetSafe took $500 off its invoices to Mounties to account for the cost of each Legal Review audit.
The connections raise questions over whether the annual reviews Legal Review conducted for Mounties between 2019 and 2023 were genuinely independent. While AUSTRAC has not yet made any findings, it is critical of how Brading went about his work.
For one, AUSTRAC says, Brading did not appropriately or sufficiently test or tick off on the systems, process and procedures used by Mounties. He also did not record any of the methodology used in the reviews, and failed to record the results of any testing.
Other than short interviews with Mounties’ anti-money-laundering co-ordinator, Brading did not engage with the board or senior management about any of the reviews he conducted, court documents allege. Finally, Brading did not receive any anti-money-laundering compliance training or education during the five years he reviewed Mounties’ compliance with the law.
This masthead made multiple attempts to contact Brading.
Symond insists everything was above board. “BetSafe’s position is that the independent reviews were commissioned by Mounties and were independent,” he said.
“BetSafe’s genuine position is that its work was assisting Mounties to comply with AUSTRAC’s expectations as they were understood and communicated at the time.
“That position is based on repeated direct engagement with AUSTRAC over many years, including involvement in at least 19 AUSTRAC compliance assessments … as well as attendance at more than a dozen AUSTRAC industry education meetings in 2021 and 2022.
“There was nothing in those engagements to indicate that the core methodology previously reviewed by AUSTRAC had ceased to be sufficient in the manner now alleged, or that AUSTRAC’s expectations had shifted to the position that has only since become apparent through the Mounties proceeding.”
Former ClubsNSW compliance officer Troy Stolz raised internal concerns as early as 2014. Rhett Wyman
But the allegations have come as no surprise to former ClubsNSW compliance officer Troy Stolz, who raised internal concerns as early as 2014 that BetSafe and another company were supplying half the clubs in NSW with lightweight programs incapable of preventing money laundering. In 2019, he resigned and reported his concerns to AUSTRAC.
“The industry was compromised in terms of compliance because these programs were only good for wrapping fish and chips in, they were that far substandard,” Stolz said.
“Nobody picked that up because generally the people who were writing the programs were also doing the independent review. Well, they’re not going to turn around and say the programs are not good. There’s no independence.”
The Mounties allegations highlight the risk of infiltration by criminals seeking to use their poker machines to conceal the origins of their dirty cash.
AUSTRAC chief executive Brendan Thomas said criminals were still moving “extraordinary volumes of cash” across venues in a way that was highly indicative of laundering.Fairfax Media
Mounties is alleged to have allowed 13 customers alone to launder about $226 million through its poker machines over four years, while it relied on BetSafe’s AML/CTF program.
The club group has agreed in court documents that BetSafe’s program did not explain how to identify, mitigate or manage money laundering and that Symond as the sole risk assessment officer underestimated the risk.
AUSTRAC chief executive Brendan Thomas told attendees at a gambling conference in March that clubs and pubs had significantly improved their anti-money-laundering programs over the past few years. Yet known criminals were still moving “extraordinary volumes of cash” across venues in a way that was highly indicative of laundering, he said.
A growing concern was the number of businesses outsourcing their AML/CTF responsibilities to third parties without sufficient oversight or accountability.
“We are seeing cases where poor quality work by third-party providers goes unchallenged, risks are missed, and alerts are closed without adequate scrutiny,” Thomas said. “When that happens, the failure sits squarely with the business.”
Mounties has terminated its relationship with BetSafe.
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Bevan Shields is a senior writer, and former editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.From our partners