Tabcorp, one of Australia’s biggest operators, has been hit with a AUD$1 million ((US$646,000) fine from Victorian regulators over violations that stemmed from a system outage back in 2020. The fine is the largest ever for the company to date.
On September 5, the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) said that the fine wasn’t necessarily in response to the outage itself—which saw Tabcorp’s wagering and betting system (WBS) go down for approximately 36 hours during the 2020 Spring Racing Carnival—but rather for failures to provide information to the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR), the predecessor to the VGCCC, about the outage.
“We will not tolerate licensees that are not forthcoming and cooperative when the Commission investigates,” VGCCC Chair Fran Thorn said in a statement.
“The Commission had to use its compulsory powers and issue directions because Tabcorp did not provide the information we required about the business continuity and disaster recovery capability of its systems. It is Tabcorp’s failure to comply with these directions that has led to the fine announced today.
“All entities we regulate – no matter how big or small – have an obligation to be open and honest with the Commission and responsive to its lawfully issued directions. We will not tolerate attempts to frustrate our investigations.”
The VCGLR first began investigating the outage after the operator did not voluntarily provide information regarding its cause or remedies, and as a result, regulators did not have full confidence that the problem had been sufficiently fixed.
The operator then committed another breach by submitting compliance updates a full four months after the set deadline.
