‘Serious weaknesses’ – Tabcorp fined again by ACMA over communications breaches

Wagering giant Tabcorp has been hit with a second seven-figure fine from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), in the space of 15 months, penalised $2.7 million over 4000 calls and 217,000 messages to customers.

ACMA levelled a $4 million fine against Tabcorp in April 2025 over communications with its VIP customers from February to April 2024.

The latest breaches concerned both telemarketing calls made between February 2024 and June 2025 and over 200,000 emails and SMSs sent over a 16-day period in 2025.

ACMA found Tabcorp made telemarketing calls to VIP customers that included 351 calls to numbers on the Do Not Call Register without consent, 82 calls outside of permitted hours, and nearly 4,000 calls without properly identifying itself as the caller or the purpose of the call.

The subsequent email/SMS breach was self-reported by Tabcorp after it was discovered that those messages were sent to customers who had unsubscribed from specific marketing materials.

“When people join the Do Not Call Register or unsubscribe from marketing messages, they are making a clear choice,” Authority member Samantha Yorke said.

“Those choices must be respected – especially given the heightened risks of financial loss and psychological harm from gambling marketing.”

“The scale and range of these breaches point to serious weaknesses in TAB’s compliance systems. The ACMA expects TAB to fix these issues, and we will be watching closely to ensure it meets its obligations.”

In addition to the fine, Tabcorp also made a court-enforceable undertaking, which requires TAB to conduct an independent review of its telemarketing systems, implement improvements and provide regular compliance reports.

“In determining the latest spam penalty, the ACMA took into account that the conduct was self-reported, restricted to a 16-day period, and involved customers who had withdrawn their consent to receiving marketing via a specific channel, but had not opted out of all marketing,” the ACMA statement said.

Tabcorp is already subject to an enforcement undertaking with ACMA as part of its previous breach finding in April 2025, while it was also fined $158,400 by ACMA in January over breaches of laws regarding in-play betting.

Last September, it was also one of six wagering companies found by ACMA to have breached self-exclusion laws and it received a $112,680 fine.

Other bookmakers to have been fined by ACMA over spam breaches in the past few years include Betfair ($871,000), PointsBet ($500,800), BetDeluxe ($50,000) and Sportsbet ($3.7 million).

Tabcorp issued a statement in response to the latest breach.

“Tabcorp acknowledges the recent findings of the ACMA. We’re committed to being a compliant company and commenced a whole of business transformation under new leadership at the end of 2024,” it read.

“Tabcorp assisted the ACMA throughout the investigation and will continue to work closely with all regulators as we continue our transformation.”

Tabcorp is also currently under investigation from financial crimes regulator AUSTRAC over its compliance with anti-money laundering laws.

That investigation was announced in early May and prompted a significant slump in the company’s share price, which dropped from $1.15 to 68 cents, before rebounding to 90 cents.

Separately, Tabcorp has told as many as 100 largely cash-based retail punters that their custom is no longer wanted.

That comes as AUSTRAC enforces lower limits when it comes to reporting of large cash transactions involving gambling companies,, with the threshold lowered from $10,000 to $5000.