ACMA defends enforcement, rejecting claims of softened action in Sportsbet case

Australia’s communications regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), has reaffirmed its firm stance on gambling regulation and recent enforcement actions.

Public scrutiny of the ACMA arose after it emerged that Sportsbet challenged a 2022 enforcement decision and reportedly lobbied the regulator to change the wording of a public announcement about the case.

As ReadWrite previously reported, documents released under freedom-of-information laws showed the ACMA came under pressure to defend its 2022 enforcement outcome against the betting operator publicly.

ACMA rejects claims of weakened enforcement

The ACMA has defended the decision, which resulted in a record AUD 2.5 million ($1.7 million) fine after finding Sportsbet had sent marketing texts and emails to tens of thousands of people who had already attempted to unsubscribe, breaching Australia’s spam communications regulations.

ReadWrite contacted the ACMA for comment following the criticism. The regulator rejected any suggestion that its enforcement action had been diminished or that it had failed to hold Sportsbet to account for the breach.

The ACMA said its compliance and enforcement activities are designed to stop unlawful conduct, deter future breaches, and protect consumers from harm.

“In our spam prevention activities alone, in 2024-25 the ACMA issued infringement notices to companies totalling more than $13.5 million,” the regulator said.

That figure includes a AUD 7.5 million ($5 million) penalty imposed on the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), alongside a court-enforceable undertaking for millions of similar spam email breaches.

Commonwealth Bank has paid a $7.5 million penalty after it sent more than 170 million marketing emails that didn’t comply with Australia’s spam laws.

Read more: https://t.co/STS03y0uEQ pic.twitter.com/cyVPwzVwAX

— ACMA (@acmadotgov) October 16, 2024

However, the Commonwealth Bank decision has itself come under increasing public scrutiny after an ABC report revealed senior bank figures had lobbied the ACMA to delay announcing the enforcement action until a day after the bank’s annual general meeting.

Former Supreme Court judge Anthony Whealy, now chair of the Centre for Public Integrity, said the decision to delay publication was “quite wrong.”

Shareholders and market analysts have also questioned the ACMA’s decision to accommodate the bank’s request. “It illustrates the bank’s control over the regulator,” AGM attendee Michael Sanderson told ABC.

Sportsbet and CBA cases probe ACMA decision-making

Addressing the Sportsbet matter directly, the ACMA said revisions to the media release “in no way changed the outcome of the investigation and the enforcement action,” adding that “the ACMA will continue to take strong, proportionate action to ensure companies meet their legal obligations.”

In closing, the regulator told ReadWrite: “The primary objectives behind the ACMA’s publication of its enforcement outcomes are to inform and educate members of the regulated community about the standards required by law and to serve as a general deterrence to the relevant regulated sector.”

The broadcaster and key decision makers down under have questioned whether those actions have been proportionate in practice, with Whealy stating that the Commonwealth Bank delay “strikes me as one more instance of the regulator trying to appease the people they’re regulating and to suit their convenience, and that’s wrong, completely wrong.”

ReadWrite has reached out to the ACMA again for further clarification.

Featured image: Sportsbet

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