Ladbrokes and Coral owner to pay ₤ 585m over bribery claims

5 December 2023

ByEsyllt Carr
Business press reporter, BBC News

Gambling giant Entain will pay HMRC ₤ 585m to settle over bribery claims connecting to a Turkish company that it formerly owned.

The settlement was approved by the Royal Courts of Justice in a hearing on Tuesday.

Entain, which owns Ladbrokes, will also make a charitable donation of ₤ 20m and pay towards the expenses of the case.

Its chairman added that the group had actually "profoundly altered" given that the sale.

The payments are part of a deferred prosecution contract (DPA), that will be made in instalments over the next four years.

The agreement allows a prosecution to be suspended for a specified period provided the organisation meets specific specific conditions.

DPAs can be utilized for scams, bribery and other economic criminal offense. They apply to organisations, never people. The DPA is among the yohaig code most significant corporate criminal settlements ever reached in the UK and the first for the CPS.

Entain will also make a contribution of ₤ 10m towards the costs incurred by HMRC and the Crown Prosecution Service during the case.

The investigation by HMRC included a Turkish-facing company that was sold by the Group in 2017. The probe included the activities of previous staff members and former 3rd celebration providers.

In particular, it was taking a look at claims that Entain, which was then referred to as GVC, failed to have sufficient treatments in location to avoid bribery.

Since then, Entain states the yohaig code group has carried out a detailed review of its anti-bribery policies and procedures.

In a statement, Barry Gibson, Entain's chairman, stated: "this promotion code is the last action in a process that has actually hung over our company because HMRC introduced its examination into a company that was offered by a former management team 6 years back."

"We have co-operated thoroughly and proactively at every stage of the procedure which, I am delighted to state, has been identified by the Court," he included.

"Entain has now fundamentally and exceptionally changed. We can now focus on the future."

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