A penalty of AU$4,003,270 has been handed down to Tabcorp Holdings for violating Australian spam laws through a marketing campaign that ran last spring.
Between February 1 and May 1, 2024, the company sent over 2,598 marketing messages to VIP customers through SMS and WhatsApp without an option to unsubscribe, an investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found.
A further 3,148 messages did not contain “adequate sender information”, and another 11 SMS messages were sent without consent.
“This is the first time the ACMA has investigated and found spam breaches in a gambling VIP program,” said Authority Member Samantha Yorke. “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.”
Tabcorp has also entered into a three-year court-enforceable undertaking. This includes an independent review of its direct marketing systems, making improvements, running quarterly audits of its VIP direct marketing, training staff and reporting to the ACMA regularly.
Meanwhile, the ACMA has also released a new list of illegal websites for Australian internet service providers to block.
The sites include Casiny, CoinPoker, Crown Play, Fafabet9, SlotFred, Smart 93 and Vigor Spin
