Australia-based betting giant Tabcorp has been charged AU$158,400 (£82,000) after breaching the country’s in-play betting rules for the third time since 2021. 

An Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) investigation found that the company accepted in-play sports bets – something which is illegal in the country.

A total of 426 bets across 32 tennis matches between February 2024 and June 2025 were discovered to have been taken, according to the investigation. All of these have now been voided and refunded.

Tabcorp provided evidence which proved that the regulatory breaches occurred because of system and communication issues with its third party provider.

“The law is clear and wagering services must have processes in place to prevent illegal in-play bets from being accepted,” said ACMA member Carolyn Lidgerwood.

“While we understand that most wagering operators rely on third-party providers to close betting on sporting events, they cannot outsource their legal responsibilities.

“The length of time it took Tabcorp to identify and then fix the problem was concerning and we expect Tabcorp to do better in the future.”

Tabcorp in firing line yet again

This is not the first time in recent memory in which the business has been stung after being found to have breached compliance rules.

Just last month, Tabcorp, along with five other operators, were subject of enforcement after breaching self-exclusion rules. 

The company was the only one out of the six hit with a penalty (€67,000) for breaches which occurred in 2024. These varied from allowing self-excluded persons to access wagering services, to targeting such individuals with marketing. 

The news also comes in the same week in which it had been involved in talks around a potential takeover of betting technology firm BetMakers Technology Group. 

BetMakers had its shares suspended on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) on Wednesday following the receipt of a Price Query around its shares. 

The firm then confirmed, following media speculation, that it had been involved in talks with Tabcorp, but that these talks ultimately closed with no offers made

Despite the penalty being a relatively small amount in comparison to the value of the company, the ACMA has warned that further non-compliance could lead to a court case and potentially result in larger consequences.

Such enforcement actions could have wider consequences, depending on the size, nature and publicity of the charges, such as impacting potential M&A deals – M&A’s like the one being discussed between BetMakers and Tabcorp before negotiations broke down.

The company has also entered into a comprehensive enforceable undertaking, meaning it will have to review its systems and processes and report regularly to the ACMA.