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SkyCity Adelaide has accepted a AU$21 million fine as part of a settlement with South Australia’s gambling regulator, marking another major development in Australia’s long-running enforcement campaign against casino compliance failures. The settlement follows years of scrutiny over the casino’s anti-money laundering controls, governance standards and gambling harm minimisation obligations. It also comes after separate federal AML/CTF proceedings brought by AUSTRAC, which resu

French financial intelligence unit TRACFIN has brought renewed attention to one of the most persistent money laundering risks in Europe: corporate cash-out networks that allow businesses to convert bank transfers into physical cash while disguising the movement as legitimate commercial activity. The case, involving an alleged €34 million laundering network, shows how ordinary-looking companies can be used to move funds through cross-border structures before returning value to

The Dutch gambling regulator has imposed a €3.082 million fine on Chestoption Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada for offering online gambling to players in the Netherlands without the required licence. The decision, published by the Kansspelautoriteit, adds to a wider enforcement campaign against offshore gambling operators that continue to target Dutch consumers despite not being licensed under the country’s regulated online gambling framework. The case is particularly sig

The European Union has extended its economic sanctions against Russia for another year, confirming that restrictions linked to the war in Ukraine are no longer being treated as short-term emergency measures but as a long-term part of Europe’s regulatory and commercial environment. On 25 June 2026, the Council of the European Union renewed the restrictive measures imposed in response to Russia’s continuing actions destabilising Ukraine. The measures will now remain in force un

The UK Financial Conduct Authority has censured CACEIS UK and secured a £31.7 million voluntary payment for affected clients after finding serious weaknesses in the firm’s financial crime controls. CACEIS UK, an asset servicing bank within the Crédit Agricole group, was criticised for failing to act on information that exposed clients to financial crime risk. The FCA said the firm did not respond adequately to warning signs and failed to properly monitor accounts after open

The Netherlands is preparing another major tightening of its online gambling market, with the government moving toward a full ban on online gambling advertising and bonuses. The proposal forms part of a wider reform package aimed at reducing gambling harm, strengthening player protection and giving the Dutch gambling regulator more power over both licensed and illegal operators. If implemented, the measures would mark one of the most restrictive approaches to online gamblin

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has imposed a major financial penalty on the UAE branch of a foreign bank, reinforcing the country’s tougher approach to anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and sanctions compliance. The enforcement action consists of an AED 20 million penalty against the foreign bank branch, equivalent to approximately USD 5.44 million, following supervisory examinations that identified significant and repeated weaknesses in the i

Binance is facing one of its most serious regulatory setbacks in Europe after failing to secure authorisation under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, commonly known as MiCA, before the end of the transitional period. The world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume has informed users in several EU markets that it will no longer be able to provide certain crypto-asset services from 1 July 2026. The move follows the withdrawal of its licence application in Gr

Curaçao is tightening its approach to crypto gambling, giving licensed online gambling operators until mid-2027 to align with new compliance expectations under the jurisdiction’s reformed regulatory framework. The Curaçao Gaming Authority has issued new guidance for business-to-consumer online gambling operators that accept cryptocurrency, marking another step in the island’s transition from a historically flexible offshore licensing model to a more structured and complianc

Thailand has blocked nearly 14,000 illegal online gambling links as authorities intensify enforcement during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, one of the biggest betting periods in the global sporting calendar. The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society reportedly blocked 13,888 gambling-related websites, URLs, social-media pages and online links between 1 June and 18 June 2026. The action came as betting activity increased around the World Cup, which began on 11 June and is expect

Nepal’s former finance minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel has been detained as part of an ongoing money-laundering investigation, in a case that adds further pressure to the country’s old political establishment and strengthens the new government’s anti-corruption agenda. Paudel was arrested in late June 2026, with police describing the case as a money-laundering matter. Nepal’s Special Court subsequently ordered him to remain in judicial custody for seven days while investigato

Portugal has closed the remaining file in the Monte Branco investigation, bringing an end to one of the country’s most prominent and long-running financial-crime cases. The case, which was widely described as one of Portugal’s largest investigations into tax fraud and money laundering, was formally archived on 12 June 2026. Its closure ends a legal process that had stretched across more than a decade and had become a reference point for the challenges involved in pursuing com

Artificial intelligence is becoming a serious part of the anti-money laundering conversation, but the newest development is not simply about making transaction monitoring faster. The more important shift is that researchers are now trying to train machines to anticipate how money launderers may adapt before those methods appear in real financial data. A research team at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering is working on a project funded by

Egypt is preparing a series of legislative amendments that would specifically criminalise online betting applications, as lawmakers move to address legal gaps between longstanding gambling restrictions and the rapidly evolving digital gambling landscape. The proposed reforms are part of a broader revision of Egypt's Cybercrime Law, which is expected to introduce measures targeting online betting applications alongside cyber extortion, digital fraud, the spread of harmful on

Tanzania is preparing to introduce a new 5% excise duty on betting stakes as part of its fiscal measures for the 2026/27 financial year, marking a significant step in the government's efforts to increase domestic revenue while enhancing oversight of the country's rapidly expanding gambling industry. Under the proposal, the excise duty would be imposed on betting stakes across a range of gambling activities, including sports betting and other licensed gaming products. Accord

The Financial Action Task Force is moving global anti-money laundering expectations into a more operational phase, with recent updates showing a clear shift away from purely formal compliance and towards practical effectiveness, stronger payment transparency, sanctions implementation and better detection of cross-border financial crime. The latest developments follow the FATF Plenary held between 17 and 19 June 2026, where members approved a series of initiatives dealing wi

The EU’s new Anti-Money Laundering Authority has published a detailed recap of its first major conference, giving fresh insight into how Europe’s financial crime framework is being reshaped ahead of AMLA’s move into direct supervision. The conference itself took place on 9 June 2026 at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt am Main, but AMLA’s official recap was published on 23 June 2026. That makes the update relevant now, not because the event happened yesterday, but because AMLA has

Hong Kong is accelerating the use of artificial intelligence in the fight against financial crime, with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) signalling that advanced analytics, machine learning and AI-powered monitoring tools will play an increasingly important role in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls. The latest step came on 22 June 2026, when the HKMA published new material aimed at supporting the adoption of artificial intelligence in fin

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that a person’s inclusion on a United States sanctions list is not, by itself, sufficient grounds for an EU bank to refuse to open a basic payment account. The judgment, delivered on 11 June 2026 in Case C-81/24, Jenec, is an important clarification for banks, payment institutions and compliance teams operating in the European Union. It confirms that non-EU sanctions listings, including those maintained by the US Office o

Ireland has launched a new national initiative to strengthen its response to financial crime, fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing, as authorities warn that criminal networks are becoming more sophisticated, more technology-driven and more capable of exploiting gaps between public agencies, regulators and private-sector businesses. The initiative, launched by Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris together with Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migra