BY John fenster
Entain PLC, which is on the FTSE 100, will pay £615 million to settle a case of bribery involving its old Turkish company.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the British tax authority, began the long probe in 2019. The settlement will end it.
As a bonus, this deal is the first Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has signed since the UK first used this legal tool in 2014.
Entain is a global company that runs businesses in about 20 countries and offers gambling and sports betting.
According to the investigation, Entain was blamed for not having enough controls in place to stop bribery in its former Turkish business, which was sold in 2017.
That being said, the company said it had carefully looked over its anti-bribery rules and taken steps to improve its compliance program and controls.
The total punishment includes a payment of £585 million, which is the amount of money the company made from fraud.
Along with that, the company will give £20 million to charity and pay £10 million to cover the costs of HMRC and the CPS.