Tabcorp has turned to a familiar name as it works through its latest run-in with Australia’s financial crime watchdog.
The wagering group has brought in former AUSTRAC chief executive Paul Jevtovic to help lead its response to the regulator’s anti-money laundering investigation. The move was announced internally by Tabcorp boss Gillon McLachlan, with Jevtovic set to chair the company’s oversight committee and help strengthen its financial crime framework.
It is a striking appointment, partly because Jevtovic knows this file from both sides of the table. He was leading AUSTRAC when Tabcorp was hit with a $45 million civil penalty in 2017, at the time the largest civil penalty in Australian corporate history. AUSTRAC said then that Tabcorp had breached AML/CTF laws 108 times over more than five years.
Now he is being brought in to help Tabcorp navigate another investigation from the same watchdog.
Why Cash and Voucher Betting Are Under the Spotlight
The latest probe, disclosed by Tabcorp on 7 May, centres on whether the company has properly managed money laundering and terrorism financing risks. Reports have pointed to cash and voucher-based betting as areas of interest, which makes sense given Tabcorp’s large retail footprint across pubs, clubs, TAB outlets and venues around the country.
That retail network is both Tabcorp’s old strength and one of its trickier compliance challenges. Online betting can be tracked through accounts, devices and payment flows. Retail wagering brings in cash, vouchers, terminals and venue staff, which can make the risk picture harder to stitch together neatly.
A customer can look harmless in one corner of the business and much more interesting once the whole trail is joined up. That is where AML systems earn their keep, or fail loudly.
Tabcorp has also made Joel Williams its permanent chief risk officer after he had been serving in the role on an interim basis since February. According to reports, Williams will continue working on the company’s risk transformation programme while Jevtovic leads the specific response to AUSTRAC.
The appointments show Tabcorp is not treating the investigation as a small compliance cleanup. Nor could it, really. AUSTRAC investigations now carry serious market weight in Australia. Investors have already seen what happens when gambling companies fall short on financial crime controls. Crown, SkyCity Adelaide, The Star and Entain have all been pulled into the wider AML crackdown in recent years.
Tabcorp knows that story better than most. Its 2017 penalty is still part of the company’s baggage, and that makes the new probe harder to frame as a routine check.
There is an obvious practical reason for hiring Jevtovic. He understands AUSTRAC, financial crime systems and the language regulators expect companies to speak. He also later worked in senior financial crime roles, including at NAB during its own AML problems, giving him experience in cleaning up risk frameworks inside large, complicated businesses.
But there is also a message in the appointment. Tabcorp wants investors and regulators to see that it is bringing in heavyweight help, not waiting for the situation to drift. A company does not hire the former head of the watchdog unless it wants the room to know the matter is being taken seriously.
Of course, optics only go so far. The real issue is whether Tabcorp’s controls are strong enough for the business it runs today.
Jevtovic’s Appointment Raises the Stakes for Tabcorp
The group is trying to rebuild under McLachlan, who took over with a mandate to sharpen performance and make Tabcorp more competitive against digital-first bookmakers. That job was already hard. Retail wagering is under pressure, customers have more options, and the betting market has moved quickly while TAB’s old dominance has faded.
An AUSTRAC investigation adds a different kind of pressure. It is not about offering better odds or building a slicker app. It is about whether the foundations of the business are safe enough.
The cash and voucher angle is especially sensitive. Retail betting still matters to Tabcorp, and physical venues bring in customers who may not behave like app-first punters. That can be commercially useful, but it also means the company needs sharp monitoring across channels that do not always produce the cleanest data.
Money laundering does not need to look dramatic. It can sit inside repeated transactions, voucher movement, unusual patterns or behaviour that only becomes suspicious when someone bothers to join the dots. That is exactly why regulators care about systems, not just slogans.
For Tabcorp, Jevtovic’s arrival gives the response more credibility. It also raises expectations. If a former AUSTRAC boss is now helping guide the company, the market will expect a serious cleanup, not a few new policy documents and a training deck nobody wants to open.
The company has not been found to have breached the law in the current matter. AUSTRAC has not filed charges, and the investigation is ongoing. That distinction still matters. But in the current Australian gambling climate, being under investigation is enough to change the mood.
Tabcorp is now trying to convince AUSTRAC, shareholders and the public that its risk systems can match the size and messiness of its wagering network.
Hiring Jevtovic is a strong first signal. The harder part starts after the announcement, when the company has to prove there is substance behind the appointment.