The gambling operator breached Australia's spam and telemarketing laws, including contacting customers who had unsubscribed from marketing and calling numbers listed on the Do Not Call Register.
Tabcorp Holdings has paid more than $2.7 million in penalties after the Australian Communications and Media Authority found the wagering firm breached spam and telemarketing laws on multiple occasions.
The regulator found that between February 2024 and June 2025, TAB made 351 telemarketing calls to numbers listed on the Do Not Call Register without consent, placed 82 calls outside calling hours, and made almost 4,000 calls without properly identifying the caller or the purpose of the call.
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The ACMA also investigated after TAB self-reported that it had sent more than 217,000 marketing emails and SMS messages over a 16-day period in 2025 to customers who had unsubscribed from specific marketing channels.
ACMA member Samantha Yorke said the breaches were particularly concerning given the potential harm associated with gambling advertising.
“When people join the Do Not Call Register or unsubscribe from marketing messages, they are making a clear choice,” Yorke said in a July 22 statement.
“Those choices must be respected – especially given the heightened risks of financial loss and psychological harm from gambling marketing.”
Yorke said the volume and nature of the breaches pointed to broader compliance failures within the organisation.
“The scale and range of these breaches point to serious weaknesses in TAB’s compliance systems,” Yorke said.
“The ACMA expects TAB to fix these issues, and we will be watching closely to ensure it meets its obligations.”
The decision marks the second time the regulator has penalised TAB for spam-related breaches. In 2024, the company was fined more than $4 million over unlawful marketing messages sent via SMS and WhatsApp to VIP customers.
In addition, TAB has entered into a court-enforceable undertaking requiring an independent review of its telemarketing systems, implementation of compliance improvements, and ongoing reporting to the regulator.
The undertaking sits alongside a separate spam compliance undertaking already in place following the previous enforcement action.
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David Hollingworth
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.