Kiwi league star Kieran Foran's lawyers are initiating a damages claim against the Australian TAB after his alleged gambling transactions were made public.
Foran returned to the Parramatta lineup this week after a highly publicised incident involving a prescription drug overdose. News Ltd reported that online bets of $80,000 were made from his TAB account on greyhound races and South African gallops during a two hour period last week. They were not able to identify who actually made the bets.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that McGirr lawyers are "set to commence litigation for damage to Foran's reputation and aggravated damages" by sending a concern notice to the TAB.
This refers to alleged breaches of the privacy act and Australian privacy principles. The SMH said any legal action was unlikely to involve seeking damages from News Ltd if the source was confirmed to have come from within the TAB.
TAB corporate affairs general manager Nicholas Tzaferis said: "The TAB takes the protection of customer information extremely seriously...it is inappropriate to comment on anything relating to individual customers."
The 25-year-old Foran had a three-week break from playing, and left a Queensland rehabilitation facility late last week. He played against the Storm in Sydney on Monday night.
The TAB is investigating how such precise detail was leaked to News Ltd about the bets made from Foran's account.