Tabcorp Holdings Limited has been fined over AUD 4 million after the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found it broke national spam laws by sending thousands of marketing messages to its VIP customers without following the rules.
The investigation showed that Australia’s largest gambling company sent 5,757 commercial electronic messages to members of its “TAB X” VIP program between February and May 2024, all in violation of the Spam Act 2003.
ACMA’s final report said Tabcorp committed 11 breaches for sending messages without getting consent, 3,148 breaches for not including correct sender or contact details, and 2,598 breaches for failing to provide a working unsubscribe option.
Under the Spam Act 2003, businesses are required to get consent before sending any marketing messages. Even when they do have consent, the messages must include a functional unsubscribe option and clearly identify who the message is from. As a result, Tabcorp was fined AUD 4,003,270 ($2,613,534) by authorities.
TAB has been penalised $4,003,270 for sending over 5,700 marketing messages that breached Australia’s spam laws.
Under the Spam Act 2003, businesses must have your consent before sending you marketing messages.
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— ACMA (@acmadotgov) June 17, 2025
Tabcorp fined over lack of consent over messages
The regulator found that Tabcorp broke specific rules that require businesses to clearly identify themselves, include proper contact details, and honor customers’ requests to opt out of marketing messages.
In one of its conclusions, ACMA stated: “TAB did not claim to have consent to send the messages, or make claims about any other potential exceptions, and they were sent more than 5 business days after the account holders made unsuccessful requests to unsubscribe.”
“The gambling industry needs to understand that spam laws apply to all direct marketing—whether it’s generic campaigns or personalised messages.” – Samantha Yorke, ACMA member
ACMA also pointed out that some of the messages were unlawful because they didn’t say who had authorized them or how to get in touch with that person or organisation: “The issue 2 investigated messages did not identify the individual or organisation who authorised the sending of the message AND/OR include accurate information about how the recipient can readily contact the authorising individual or organisation.”
The report also criticized Tabcorp’s rationale that customers “would be able to identify and contact the account managers… if they had saved those account managers’ names and phone numbers,” adding: “TAB’s view is speculative at best, and the Spam Act does not contemplate such arrangements.”
The report included examples of personalized, incentive-based promotions that were sent to gambling customers through SMS and WhatsApp. The messages offered things like bonus bets, deposit matches, and ticket deals, and in some cases, they kept coming even after customers had tried to unsubscribe.
Lack of spam compliance ‘utterly unacceptable’
Authority Member Samantha Yorke said the breaches were especially troubling because they came from a major, well-established gambling company that was targeting its VIP customers.
In a statement, she said: “This is the first time the ACMA has investigated and found spam breaches in a gambling VIP program. These programs often involve personalised messages offering incentives such as bonus bets, deposit matching, rebates and offers of tickets to sporting and other events.
“The gambling industry needs to understand that spam laws apply to all direct marketing—whether it’s generic campaigns or personalised messages.
“VIPs should not be confused with gambling ‘high-rollers’. These types of gambling VIP programs can involve customers who are not well off and are experiencing significant losses.
“It is utterly unacceptable that TAB did not have adequate spam compliance systems in place.”
The breaches span communications sent between 1 February and 1 May 2024. TAB has also agreed to a court-enforceable undertaking that will run for three years. As part of this, the company must undergo an independent review of its direct marketing systems, make necessary improvements, conduct quarterly audits of its VIP marketing activities, train its staff, and provide regular reports to the ACMA.
ReadWrite has reached out to Tabcorp Holdings for comment.
Featured image: Canva / Tabcorp Holdings
