Entain

The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced its first ever deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with international sports betting and gaming company Entain for £585 million (see CPS release, 5 Dec 2023). Formerly known as GVC, Entain announced in 2020 that it was under investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for failure to prevent bribery offences in relation to its Turkish business between 2011 and 2017, contrary to the UK Bribery Act of 2010.

FRA was engaged to support the company. Working alongside Group General Counsel Simon Zinger and counsel from Addleshaw Goddard and McDermott Will & Emery, the FRA forensic accounting team played an important role advising alongside the legal team.

Entain agreed to pay a £465 million financial penalty and £120 million in disgorgement of profits. The company will also pay £20 million in charitable donation and £10 million to cover CPS and HMRC investigation costs. Dame Victoria Sharp DBE, President of the King’s Bench Division, granted final approval of the DPA. She noted in her written summary judgment that she was “satisfied that an overall discount of 50 per cent to the financial penalty” properly reflected Entain’s “exemplary cooperation and remediation” (see the summary judgment here).

Speaking to the company’s co-operation with the authorities and proactive strengthening of its wider compliance programme, Entain Chairman Barry Gibson said “Entain has now fundamentally and profoundly changed. We can now concentrate on the future” (see Entain’s press release, 5 Dec 2023).

The core FRA team supporting this first-of-its-kind DPA included:

Toby Duthie, Co-founding Partner

Trevor Wiles, Partner

Shaf Sohail, Director

Hamish Russell, Associate Director