Background: Sportsbet is an online gambling company, which primarily targets the Aussie market. In 2020, the company spent $139 million on advertising and sponsorship.

What happened: A big part of Sportsbet's digital advertising strategy is texting and emailing punters. But after sending 150,000 texts to punters who had unsubscribed from them...this strategy backfired.

What else: The Australian media authority (ACMA) estimates punters lost $1.2 million on betting after receiving those texts. Now, Sportsbet has signed a 3-year enforceable undertaking to refund the $1.2 million...and pay a $2.5 million fine for breaking the law. 

So what's the key learning?

💡An enforceable undertaking is a legal agreement between a regulator and someone who hasn't followed the law. It is generally used in place of taking someone to court 'cos that's 💸💸💸.

💡It isn't an admission of guilt, so it's an easy way for a company to fess up...without really fessing up. Ya know, "we'll pay a fine...for what we did...but we're not saying we did it".

💡An enforceable undertaking usually involves paying back some cash, implementing training programs...and getting someone to conduct an internal audit of policies to make sure it doesn't happen again. Just like Sportsbet's doing now.