Tabcorp Holdings Limited, one of Australia’s leading wagering and media firms, has faced penalties surpassing AU$2.7 million (about US$1.8 million) from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
On Wednesday, ACMA detailed that Tabcorp breached telemarketing and spam laws over a span of 16 months. The regulator's investigation, which examined operations from February 2024 to June 2025, discovered that Tabcorp placed numerous unauthorized telemarketing calls to its VIP clientele. Highlighted violations included 351 calls to numbers that were registered on the Do Not Call Register, all without obtaining the necessary consent. Additionally, 82 calls were made outside of the legal calling hours, and nearly 4,000 instances occurred where Tabcorp failed to properly identify itself or disclose the nature of the calls.
The inquiry was escalated after Tabcorp self-reported a breach in 2025, acknowledging it had sent over 217,000 marketing emails and SMS messages within just 16 days to customers who had opted out of those communications. ACMA deemed the scale and timing of these marketing efforts significant enough to warrant action.
Under Australia’s Spam Act 2003, companies must secure consent before dispatching marketing messages and ensure these communications include a functional unsubscribe option along with sender details.
Samantha Yorke, a member of ACMA, criticized Tabcorp's actions as "unacceptable," especially considering the inherent risks associated with gambling advertising and Tabcorp's historical compliance record. She stated, "When people join the Do Not Call register or unsubscribe from marketing messages, they are making a clear choice. Those choices must be respected – especially given the heightened risks of financial loss and psychological harm from gambling marketing.”
This penalty follows an earlier enforcement action by ACMA in 2025, which resulted in Tabcorp being fined over AU$4 million for sending non-compliant marketing messages via SMS and WhatsApp to its VIP customers. An investigation by ACMA revealed that between February 1 and May 1, 2024, the company sent 2,598 SMS and WhatsApp communications without providing customers the option to unsubscribe. Furthermore, 3,148 messages lacked adequate sender information, while 11 SMS messages were sent without prior consent between February 15 and April 29, 2024.
In determining the current penalty, ACMA recognized Tabcorp’s voluntary self-reporting and noted that the unsolicited messages were sent over a constrained 16-day span and only to customers who had explicitly opted out of certain marketing channels. Beyond the financial penalty, Tabcorp has agreed to a court-enforceable undertaking, which includes commissioning an independent review of its telemarketing systems to rectify compliance deficiencies.
Across the industry, ACMA noted that businesses have collectively incurred more than AU$12 million in penalties related to spam and telemarketing violations in the past 18 months. Earlier this year, ACMA also penalized Tabcorp AU$112,680 for violating self-exclusion rules within the country, which was accompanied by another court-enforceable undertaking.
