Australian bookie Tabcorp gets all clear from regulator on mobile in-play betting
Australian betting company Tabcorp has got the green light from regulators to expand its Tap in-play betting product, after the Australian Communications and Media Authority said the service does not breach the federal Interactive Gambling Act.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority launched an investigation in May last year after Tabcorp confirmed it was testing in-play betting through its Tab app at two New South Wales venues.
The system allows customers to activate live betting by physically tapping their mobile device against a Tap in-play station inside a licensed venue.
Under the Interactive Gambling Act, in-play betting is prohibited online but permitted over the phone or in person at retail venues.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority found that the tap-on system qualifies under exception 8BA, introduced in 2017, which allows electronic betting terminals in monitored venues, according to reporting by The Straight.
The ruling potentially clears the path for Tabcorp to roll out the product nationally, excluding Western Australia, subject to state-level approvals, and strengthens Tabcorp’s position in the untapped in-play betting market.
In its findings, the Australian Communications and Media Authority emphasized that venues have to properly supervise betting activity and noted that Tabcorp’s Real Time Intervention safeguards exceed those currently applied to traditional electronic betting terminals, though the regulator also said it will closely monitor the service’s rollout.
Earlier in the month, the Australian Communications and Media Authority also fined Tabcorp AU$158,400 (US$111,815)1 AUD = 0.7059 USD
2026-02-24Powered by CMG CurrenShift for accepting in-play bets on tennis matches.
Charlotte Capewell brings her passion for storytelling and expertise in writing, researching, and the gambling industry to every article she writes. Her specialties include the US gambling industry, regulator legislation, igaming, and more.
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The Backstory
Why the ruling matters now
Australia’s communications regulator has cleared a path for Tabcorp’s “tap-on” mobile product inside licensed venues, a decision that arrives after years of strict limits on live wagering and months of stepped-up enforcement against the country’s biggest bookmakers. The Australian Communications and Media Authority determined the system fits within an exception to the federal Interactive Gambling Act that allows electronic betting terminals in monitored venues. The finding puts mobile-enabled in-venue betting on firmer legal ground and gives Tabcorp a head start in a market segment long constrained by rules that bar online in‑play betting while allowing phone or over-the-counter bets.
The law’s core restrictions date to 2001 and were tightened in 2017. Exception 8BA under the Interactive Gambling Act permits the kind of electronically assisted, venue-supervised wagering Tabcorp is deploying. The statutory framework is publicly available via Australia’s federal register at legislation.gov.au. The regulator’s decision signals that product design — including physical presence requirements and venue controls — can be pivotal in navigating the letter of the law.
Even with the green light, the agency stressed oversight on the rollout and venue supervision. That sets the stakes for Tabcorp’s compliance performance at a time when the regulator has been issuing fines and enforceable undertakings across the sector.
Recent breaches frame today’s clearance
The approval lands weeks after the regulator fined Tabcorp AU$158,400 for accepting 426 illegal in‑play bets on 32 tennis matches. Between February 2024 and June 2025, the company allowed bets after matches had started, in direct conflict with the in‑play prohibition for online channels. The penalty, refunds and an enforceable undertaking were detailed in a June enforcement notice. It was the third time Tabcorp had been found to have accepted online in‑play bets, underscoring system and vendor dependencies that the company has now pledged to tighten, especially around pre‑match market closures for tennis.
That record is the backdrop for the regulator’s emphasis on real‑time monitoring and intervention in the newly approved venue-based product. The agency highlighted that Tabcorp’s controls exceed traditional electronic betting terminals, but it also warned it will track the rollout. The message: the exemption clears the product’s structure, not the operator from future scrutiny.
Marketing compliance becomes costly
The in‑play decision also follows a separate crackdown on direct marketing. In June the regulator announced Tabcorp would pay AU$4 million for breaching spam laws after sending more than 5,700 messages that lacked unsubscribe options or proper sender details. The case, which focused on outreach to VIP customers, forced Tabcorp to accept an independent review of its systems and added staff training obligations. The findings are outlined in the spam enforcement action.
The penalties extend beyond one operator. In May, the regulator fined PointsBet AU$500,000 for violations related to spam and self‑exclusion, according to the same report. The enforcement posture is clear: product innovations that push against legacy constraints will face parallel expectations for pristine compliance on consumer protections and marketing conduct.
Self-exclusion enforcement tightens across the board
The regulator’s work on the National Self‑Exclusion Register, known as BetStop, has accelerated. Investigations this year found multiple operators allowed self‑excluded individuals to open accounts or received marketing despite being on the register. In a roundup of actions, the agency warned four companies for marketing to self‑excluded people and cited one for failing to close accounts, detailed in a sector-wide warning on BetStop rules. The regulator also fined PointsBet in that matter.
The scrutiny has focused on other operators too. The agency is in the final stages of an enforcement action against PickleBet after the platform allegedly let a BetStop‑registered user sign up and wager. That case followed penalties and undertakings imposed on larger peers, as reported in coverage of the PickleBet investigation. In a separate move, ReadyBet received a remedial direction after sending 273 messages to individuals on the register and failing to promote BetStop in thousands of push notifications, as described in the ReadyBet remedial order. The regulator’s public-facing guidance for consumers and operators on self‑exclusion is available via the BetStop program page.
The common thread is data integrity and system design. Failures to correctly match user identities against the register or to segregate marketing audiences now trigger fines, audits and undertakings. For Tabcorp, the heightened standards around real-time intervention in venue-based products sit alongside an expectation that its identity and messaging controls meet or exceed the bar set in those recent cases.
Causality: legal design meets operational risk
The tap‑enabled in‑play model hinges on a narrow legal lane that depends on the bettor’s physical presence and the venue’s monitoring status. The regulator’s acceptance that the product fits exception 8BA shows how channel mechanics can change the legal analysis without changing the underlying bet type. Yet that same reliance on mechanics creates operational risk: systems must reliably confirm venue presence, enforce limits in real time and default to safe outcomes when connectivity or geofencing falter.
The regulator’s recent series of penalties — on in‑play markets, spam and self‑exclusion — maps directly to those risks. If market cutoffs miss the start of play, if a message reaches a self‑excluded bettor, or if venue safeguards lapse, enforcement follows. The clearance therefore raises the upside for Tabcorp’s live betting ambitions but also exposes the company to sharper consequences if its safeguards fall short.
What to watch next
The decision positions Tabcorp to scale the product nationally, excluding Western Australia, subject to state approvals. Those approvals will test how consistently state regulators interpret venue supervision, audit trails and harm‑minimization features, including the company’s Real Time Intervention tools. Competitors with deep live wagering operations, including global brands operating in Australia, must weigh whether to pursue similar models or wait for any legal challenges or state-level conditions that could narrow the ruling’s scope.
For policymakers, the ruling may prompt fresh debate over whether the Interactive Gambling Act’s channel-based approach remains fit for purpose as betting migrates to mobile devices even inside retail environments. Any move to update or clarify the statute — accessible at the federal register — would ripple through product roadmaps and compliance budgets across the industry.
The near-term signal is clear: the regulator will allow innovation that respects the current letter of the law while pressing operators to prove their systems work under pressure. With fines and undertakings piling up across marketing, self‑exclusion and live markets, Tabcorp’s window to lead in venue-based in‑play betting comes with a narrow margin for error.
