Tabcorp Hit With AU$2.7M Fine Over Telemarketing and Spam Violations
Australia's ACMA found Tabcorp made hundreds of unlawful telemarketing calls and sent over 217,000 marketing messages to customers who had already unsubscribed, across a 16-month period.
A Repeat Offender Faces the Regulator Again
Tabcorp Holdings Limited, one of Australia’s largest wagering and media companies, has been hit with penalties totalling more than AU$2.7 million (approximately US$1.8 million) after Australia’s communications regulator found it had broken telemarketing and spam laws repeatedly over a 16-month stretch. The Australian Communications and Media Authority announced the penalties on Wednesday, according to a report by iGaming Business.
The ACMA’s investigation covered the period from February 2024 to June 2025, during which Tabcorp made a series of unlawful calls targeting its VIP customers. The findings were specific and damning. Tabcorp made 351 calls to numbers registered on the Do Not Call Register without obtaining prior consent. It placed 82 calls outside the legally permitted calling hours. And in nearly 4,000 calls, the company failed to properly identify itself or state the purpose of the call, as required under Australian law.
Then there was the email and SMS problem, which Tabcorp actually brought to light itself. The company self-reported in 2025 that it had sent over 217,000 marketing emails and SMS messages within a 16-day window to customers who had explicitly unsubscribed from those channels. ACMA considered both the volume and the compressed timeframe significant enough to pursue formal enforcement.
What the Law Requires
Australia’s Spam Act 2003 is not ambiguous on these points. Businesses must have received consent before sending marketing messages. Those messages must contain a working unsubscribe option. And they must include clear information about who is sending them. Tabcorp fell short on multiple counts across the investigation period.
ACMA member Samantha Yorke called the conduct “unacceptable,” with particular weight given to the nature of Tabcorp’s business. “When people join the Do Not Call register or unsubscribe from marketing messages, they are making a clear choice,” Yorke said, as quoted by iGaming Business. “Those choices must be respected, especially given the heightened risks of financial loss and psychological harm from gambling marketing.”
The mention of gambling’s specific harms was not incidental. Regulators in Australia and elsewhere have grown increasingly attentive to the ways that unsolicited wagering promotions can reach people who have taken deliberate steps to distance themselves from gambling-related content.
A Pattern That Predates This Investigation
This is not the first time Tabcorp has been through this particular door. A prior ACMA enforcement action in 2025 resulted in a fine exceeding AU$4 million, after the regulator found Tabcorp had sent 2,598 SMS and WhatsApp messages to VIP customers between February and May 2024 without offering any way to unsubscribe. A further 3,148 messages across SMS and WhatsApp during that same period lacked adequate sender information, and 11 SMS messages were sent without consent at all.
The overlap in dates between the two investigations is notable. Some of the conduct that triggered the earlier, larger fine was happening at the same time as the behavior now being penalized in this latest case.
In calculating the current AU$2.7 million penalty, ACMA did acknowledge that Tabcorp had voluntarily self-reported the email and SMS breach and that the unsolicited messages were sent within a relatively short 16-day window. Those factors appear to have worked in Tabcorp’s favor to some degree, at least compared to the AU$4 million figure from the prior action.
What Comes Next
The repeated nature of these violations puts Tabcorp in an uncomfortable position heading into the back half of 2026. Self-reporting is generally viewed favorably by regulators, and it clearly factored into the penalty calculation here. But self-reporting a pattern that mirrors a previous enforcement action carries diminishing returns in terms of goodwill.
For a company of Tabcorp’s scale operating in a sector already under sustained scrutiny for its advertising practices, the cumulative fine total across both ACMA actions now exceeds AU$6.7 million. That figure, and the conduct behind it, will likely color how regulators assess any future compliance stumbles.
Why was Tabcorp fined AU$2.7 million?
Australia's communications regulator ACMA found that Tabcorp violated telemarketing and spam laws over a 16-month period from February 2024 to June 2025. Violations included calling numbers on the Do Not Call Register without consent, calling outside permitted hours, failing to properly identify the caller, and sending over 217,000 marketing messages to customers who had explicitly unsubscribed.
Has Tabcorp been fined before for similar issues?
Yes. A previous ACMA enforcement action in 2025 resulted in a fine exceeding AU$4 million after Tabcorp sent thousands of SMS and WhatsApp marketing messages to VIP customers without an unsubscribe option and without adequate sender information.
What does Australia's Spam Act 2003 require of businesses?
The Spam Act 2003 requires businesses to obtain consent before sending marketing messages, include a working unsubscribe option in those messages, and clearly identify the sender.
Did Tabcorp self-report any of these breaches?
Yes. The ACMA investigation intensified after Tabcorp self-reported a breach in 2025, revealing it had sent over 217,000 marketing emails and SMS messages in a 16-day window to customers who had already unsubscribed. ACMA took the voluntary self-reporting into account when determining the final penalty.