Betfair Subject to Stiff Penalty in Australia, Fined $563K

The Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued one of its largest fines on record against an established company in the local market. The case concerns Betfair, an authorized and regulated sports betting platform.

ACMA Takes Serious Issue with VIP Promotional Offenses

According to ACMA, the company sent unsolicited promotional messages – untargeted advertisements – in the form of 148 text messages and emails in 2024 to a selection of its players, specifically VIP clients who were registered with the platform.

While the practice of targeting people who have opted into such promotional messages is recognized by the regulator as a valid strategy, people who have withdrawn consent, or have explicitly withdrawn it, may not be forwarded such marketing materials.

ACMA conducted a careful investigation to arrive at the penalty of AUD 871,660 ($563,650), with the regulator establishing that six of the messages did not have an unsubscribe option, i.e., consumers were not offered the chance to unsubscribe or block the receipt of such messages.

ACMA Member Samantha Yorke highlighted the operator’s responsibility in the case and doubled down that RG standards need to be maintained at all times. Just because someone has made the VIP program at a betting operator, she said, this does not automatically mean they are wealthy or can afford to spend money on gambling.

Yorke critiqued the messages sent to these customers as “incredibly irresponsible” and “non-compliant.” Betfair will have to pay the full amount of the penalty but also undergo an independent review to ensure that the deficiencies found in the first investigation have been addressed.

Betfair Is Not the Only Penalized Company Recently

Recently, Betfair was cleared by the UK media watchdog over an ad that supposedly appealed to an underage audience. Still, the fine is a far cry from the penalty the media regulator issued against Tabcorp in June, when a AU$4 million penalty was issued against the operator for spam messages.  

At the same time, ACMA has continued to target illegal gambling sites, and specifically casinos that try to get Australian gamblers to spend money locally.