The Australia Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has hit Betfair with a A$871,660 (£423,953) fine for breaching spam laws.
An investigation conducted by the ACMA found that between March and December of 2024, Betfair sent 148 emails or text messages to customers that had either withdrawn their consent or not granted consent to receive communications in the first place.
Additionally, the operator was found to have sent six text messages or emails within the same timeframe that did not include an option for recipients to unsubscribe.
The messages, which represent a breach of Australia’s Spam Act 2003, were sent to members of Betfair’s VIP programme, Betfair+.
The messages prompted users to make more deposits, alongside offering free tickets to events.
As part of the ACMA’s investigation, the authority explored whether the messages were of a commercial nature and noted that Betfair was not a permissible entity under the Spam Act, such as a charity or political party.
In turn, the ACMA found that there was “reasonable grounds to believe that Betfair contravened the Spam Act” in sending the 148 messages last year.
When assessing the six messages that did not feature an option to unsubscribe, many of the same factors had to be taken into consideration.
An example of one of the six redacted SMS texts read: “Hi [NAME], I’ve got 4 x Medallion Club tickets to the Demons v Saints game @ MCG on Sunday 3:20pm. Would you like to snap them up?”
Betfair informed the ACMA that all six messages were sent without a functionable unsubscribe facility because of it “either having been deleted or not included at all”.
As a result, Betfair has been deemed to have breached subsections 16 (1) and 18 (1) of the Spam Act 2003.
Samantha Yorke, authority member at the ACMA, made clear that the regulator has no tolerance for any operator that breaches the legislation.
She explained: “VIP programmes are generally designed to attract and retain customers with high betting activity, however this doesn’t mean VIP customers are well-off or can afford losses.
“Sending promotional gambling messages to these customers without consent or with no option to opt out is incredibly irresponsible in addition to being non-compliant.
“The spam laws have been in place for over 20 years and it is simply unacceptable for businesses not to respect the rights of their customers.”
Due to the breach, Betfair will enter a two-year court-enforceable undertaking that will mean the operator is required to invest in an independent review of its marketing practices and ensure improvements are implemented.
Betfair will also be required to undergo staff training, quarterly internal audits and report to the ACMA regularly.
“This is the second recent ACMA enforcement action concerning VIP customers in the gambling sector,” Yorke added.
“Providers are on notice that they need to have their compliance systems in order.”
Within the last 18 months, the ACMA has received more than A$16.6m in penalty payments from companies that have been guilty of spam-related offences.
That includes another operator in Tabcorp, which was fined A$4m last month after breaching spam laws more than 5,000 times.
As per another investigation from the ACMA, Tabcorp was found to have sent over 2,500 WhatsApp messages to its VIP customers without any option for recipients to unsubscribe between 1 February and 1 May 2024.
The post Betfair slapped with A$871,000 fine from ACMA over spam law breaches first appeared on EGR Intel.
Operator found to have sent 148 emails or text messages to non-consenting recipients, as well as six messages that did not include an unsubscribe option between March and December 2024
The post Betfair slapped with A$871,000 fine from ACMA over spam law breaches first appeared on EGR Intel.