TIDMENT
RNS Number : 7597V
Entain PLC
05 December 2023
5 December 2023
Entain plc
("Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, "Group")
Final Approval of Deferred Prosecution Agreement
Entain plc (LSE: ENT), the global sports betting and gaming
group, announces that it has today entered into a Deferred
Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the Crown Prosecution Service
(CPS), with the approval of Dame Victoria Sharp, President of the
King's Bench Division at the Royal Courts of Justice sitting as the
Crown Court at Southwark.
The DPA relates to alleged offences under Section 7 of the
Bribery Act 2010 and, in particular, a failure by the Company to
have adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery in relation to
its legacy Turkish-facing business. The Turkish-facing business was
sold by a former management team in 2017.
The DPA, which comes into effect on today's date, fully resolves
HMRC's investigation insofar as it concerns the Company and the
Group.
As previously announced, under the terms of the DPA (which are
in line with the provision taken on 10 August 2023), the Company
has agreed to pay a financial penalty plus disgorgement of profits
totalling GBP585 million, to make a charitable donation of GBP20
million and to pay a contribution of GBP10 million to HMRC's and
the CPS's costs. The financial penalty, disgorgement of profits and
the charitable donation will be paid in instalments over the term
of the DPA, which will be four years from today's date.
The Court has applied the full discount generally available to
the financial penalty in recognition of the Company's "exemplary"
co-operation with HMRC and the CPS.
Since the conduct giving rise to the DPA, the Group has
undertaken a comprehensive review of its anti-bribery policies and
procedures and has taken decisive action to significantly
strengthen its wider compliance programme and related controls.
Recognition of the significant improvements made by the Company is
an integral feature of achieving a DPA.
Barry Gibson, Chairman said:
"This is the final step in a process that has hung over our
business since HMRC launched its investigation into a business that
was sold by a former management team six years ago. We have
cooperated extensively and proactively at every stage of the
process which, I am pleased to say, has been recognised by the
Court. Entain has now fundamentally and profoundly changed. We can
now concentrate on the future. "
A summary of the Court's Judgment will shortly be made available
on our website at
https://www.entaingroup.com/investor-relations/regulatory-news/.
The information contained within this announcement is deemed to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse
Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of English law by
virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The person
responsible for releasing this announcement on behalf of the
Company is Simon Zinger, General Counsel. Upon the publication of
this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be
in the public domain.
Enquiries:
Investor Relations - Entain plc investors@entaingroup.com
David Lloyd-Seed, Chief IR & Communications
Officer
Davina Hobbs, Head of Investor Relations
Aimee Remey, VP US IR
C allum Sims, IR Manager
Company Secretary secretary@entaingroup.com
Media - Entain plc media@entaingroup.com
Lisa Attenborough, Head of Corporate
Communications
Jay Dossetter, Head of Corporate
PR
Jodie Hitch, PR Manager
Media - Powerscourt Tel: +44 (0) 20 7250 1446
R ory Godson / R ob Greening / Russell entain@powerscourt-group.com
Lynch
About Entain plc
Entain plc (LSE: ENT) is a FTSE100 company and is one of the
world's largest sports betting and gaming groups, operating both
online and in the retail sector. The Group owns a comprehensive
portfolio of established brands; Sports brands include BetCity,
bwin, Coral, Crystalbet, Eurobet, Ladbrokes, Neds, Sportingbet,
Sports Interaction, STS, SuperSport and TAB NZ; Gaming brands
include Foxy Bingo, Gala, GiocoDigitale, Ninja Casino, Optibet,
Partypoker and PartyCasino. The Group owns proprietary technology
across all its core product verticals and in addition to its B2C
operations provides services to a number of third-party customers
on a B2B basis.
The Group has a 50/50 joint venture, BetMGM, a leader in sports
betting and iGaming in the US. Entain provides the technology and
capabilities which power BetMGM as well as exclusive games and
products, specially developed at its in-house gaming studios. The
Group is tax resident in the UK and is the only global operator to
exclusively operate in domestically regulated or regulating markets
operating in over 40 territories.
Entain is a leader in ESG, a member of FTSE4Good, the DJSI and
is AA rated by MSCI. The Group has set a science-based target,
committing to be carbon net zero by 2035 and through the Entain
Foundation supports a variety of initiatives, focusing on safer
gambling, grassroots sport, diversity in technology and community
projects. For more information see the Group's website:
www.entaingroup.com
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END
AGRUPGCUPUPWGCA
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December 05, 2023 09:06 ET (14:06 GMT)
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