Australian Regulator Fines TAB $2.7 Million for Spam and Telemarketing Breaches

Key points

• Tabcorp Holdings Limited (TAB) paid more than $2.7 million in penalties after a regulatory investigation concluded in 2025.
• Australia's communications regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), found multiple breaches of spam and telemarketing laws.
• TAB contacted people who had registered on the Do Not Call Register, a government list where Australians can block unsolicited sales calls.
• ACMA said the scale of the breaches points to "serious weaknesses" in TAB's internal compliance systems.
• Gambling marketing carries heightened risk of financial harm, which ACMA cited as an aggravating factor in its assessment.

Tabcorp Holdings Limited, the company behind Australia's TAB betting brand, has paid more than $2.7 million in penalties after Australia's communications watchdog found it repeatedly broke the country's spam and telemarketing rules.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which is the government body responsible for enforcing communications laws, confirmed the penalty. The breaches covered two distinct sets of rules: the Spam Act 2003, which governs unwanted commercial emails and text messages, and the Do Not Call Register Act 2006, which protects people who have signed up to a government list specifically to stop unsolicited sales calls.

What did TAB actually do wrong?

TAB contacted people who had already said no. Some had placed their number on the Do Not Call Register. Others had hit "unsubscribe" on marketing messages, which is a clear legal instruction to stop.

ACMA said TAB ignored both signals, and did so repeatedly. The regulator described the pattern as evidence of "serious weaknesses in TAB's compliance systems," meaning the company did not have adequate internal processes to track who had opted out and to honour those choices.

ACMA Chair Nerida O'Loughlin, quoted in the regulator's public statement, noted that gambling marketing carries particular weight: people exposed to unsolicited betting promotions face heightened risks of financial loss and psychological harm compared with, say, an unwanted furniture catalogue.

Should TAB customers be concerned?

If you received TAB marketing after opting out, you were on the receiving end of conduct the regulator has now penalised. The immediate practical step is straightforward: check that your number remains listed on the Do Not Call Register at donotcall.gov.au, and if you receive further unwanted contact from any gambling operator, you can report it directly to ACMA.

The penalty itself does not trigger any compensation scheme for affected individuals. ACMA's powers under the current framework are civil in nature: they issue infringement notices and pursue penalties, but they do not redistribute those funds to consumers.

The $2.7 million figure reflects multiple separate breaches across both the spam and telemarketing regimes. ACMA did not publicly break down the split between the two sets of laws in its initial statement, but each individual contravention under the Spam Act 2003 can attract a substantial per-breach penalty, and the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 carries its own parallel penalty structure.

For any organisation running marketing campaigns, the TAB case is a clear reminder that opt-out records are not optional bookkeeping. Compliance under both Acts requires real-time, accurate suppression lists and processes that actually stop messages before they leave the building.

Common questions

What is the Do Not Call Register?

The Do Not Call Register is a free Australian government service where residents can list their phone number to block unsolicited telemarketing calls. Businesses are legally required to check the register before calling.

Can I get compensation if TAB contacted me after I opted out?

No direct compensation scheme exists. However, you can report the contact to ACMA, which uses complaints as evidence in future enforcement action.