The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) has fined Tabcorp a record AU$1.0m (£506,986/€592,679/US$636,096) over its conduct during a major system outage in 2020.
Tabcorp’s Wagering and Betting System (WBS) went down on 7 November 2020, during that year’s Spring Racing Carnival. This left the service unavailable for approximately 36 hours.
The Wagering and Betting Licence and Agreement states that the WBS must be continuously available. This resulted in the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation, the VGCCC’s predecessor, investigating the incident.
Directions were then issued after Tabcorp failed to voluntarily provide adequate information about the outage to the regulator.
Tabcorp blasted for not following directions
The VGCCC said Tabcorp’s conduct during the investigation and its response to the directions impacted its ability to understand the cause of the major outage. The regulator said it did not have confidence that a similar issue would not happen again.
Further investigation by the VGCCC found Tabcorp did not comply with the first direction as it failed to produce a response that confirmed the WBS business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements established after the outage were “fit for purpose”.
In terms of the second direction, the VGCCC said Tabcorp failed to comply as it submitted a compliant report four months after the deadline.
Fine issued to Tabcorp over “unacceptable” conduct
Ruling on the case, the VGCCC said the seriousness of the breach warranted a record fine from the regulator. The VGCCC also referenced Tabcorp’s “repeated failure” to comply with directions.
“We will not tolerate licensees that are not forthcoming and cooperative when the Commission investigates,” VGCCC chair Fran Thorn said.
“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.”
