TAB, the flagship brand of Tabcorp Holdings, has been summoned to pay a AU$2.7m (€1.4m) penalty for breaches of Australian marketing and consumer rights.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) confirmed that TAB had agreed to pay more than AU$2.7m after an investigation uncovered “repeated failures to comply with consumer marketing rules between February 2024 and June 2025”.
According to the regulator, TAB made 351 telemarketing calls to customers listed on Australia’s Do Not Call Register without consent, 82 calls outside permitted marketing hours and nearly 4,000 calls in which callers failed to properly identify themselves or explain the purpose of the call.
Separately, TAB self-reported that a systems error in 2025 resulted in more than 217,000 marketing emails and SMS messages being sent over a 16-day period to customers who had unsubscribed from specific marketing channels.
Samantha Yorke, ACMA Compliance Director, said that the scale of the breaches was particularly concerning given the risks connected to gambling advertising.
“When people join the Do Not Call Register or unsubscribe from marketing messages, they are making a clear choice,” she said.
“Their choices must be respected – especially given the heightened risks of financial loss and psychological harm from gambling marketing.”
Yorke added that the scale of the breaches pointed to “serious weaknesses” in TAB’s compliance systems: “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.”
TAB falls foul again
The enforcement marks ACMA’s second major action against TAB in as many years. In 2024, the operator paid more than AU$4m for sending non-compliant SMS and WhatsApp marketing messages to VIP customers.
While ACMA acknowledged that the latest spam incident was self-reported, limited to a 16-day period and affected customers who had opted out of specific communication channels rather than all marketing, the regulator still imposed a court-enforceable undertaking alongside the financial penalty.
As part of the regulatory action, TAB must commission an independent review of its telemarketing systems, including the implementation of compliance improvements and providing regular reports to ACMA.
The new measures add to a separate enforceable undertaking already in force following last year’s enforcement action.
The latest penalty comes as Tabcorp continues to revise TAB’s marketing strategy and customer engagement model led by the new appointment of Jarrod Villani, an ex Paramount Australia executive, who joined the ASX group in 2025 as part of a leadership overhaul led by Chief Executive Officer, Gillon McLachlan.
The review coincides with Tabcorp taking control of the 20-year exclusive Victorian Wagering and Betting Licence.
The landmark agreement returned full control of Victoria’s retail wagering operations to TAB and is expected to deliver an annual EBITDA uplift of around AU$115m (€69m), while contributing approximately AU$300m (€180m) in additional reported revenue following the transition to full ownership of the Victorian business.
For Tabcorp, the Victoria licence represents the cornerstone of its long-term wagering strategy, in which it has revitalised TAB’s branding, operations and retail wagering systems as well as its betting terminals.
Closing its statement, the ACMA noted that Australian gambling licence holders have paid more than AU$12m (circa €10m) in telecom failures and telemarketing penalties over the past 18 months, the regulator noted need for “continued enforcement against companies that fail to comply with consumer marketing laws”.
