Not good enough

Star Entertainment Group is hanging on for dear life as it waits to hear the fate of its casino license in New South Wales (NSW). The Brisbane-based company was subject to a second probe by SC Adam Bell after the authorities felt it hadn’t made sufficient progress in addressing serious issues uncovered by the initial inquiry in 2022.

issued a disciplinary notice to the company regarding four major breaches

The NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) confirmed on Friday that Star will have to pay a fine of AU$100m (US$67m) if it manages to hold onto its license to operate a Sydney casino. It issued a disciplinary notice to the company regarding four major breaches that the report from August 30 outlined.

These relate to not running welfare checks on hundreds of high-risk customers, forging these checks, and a case of cash fraud. Star has two weeks to respond to these allegations. The regulator also wants more insight into the operator’s current financial position and what it intends to do to remediate itself if it holds onto the license.

Many issues

Star issued a response by saying it might query certain issues and plans to reply by September 27.

The embattled company also has concerns in Queensland, where it operates two casinos. The Queensland regulator is waiting to see what happens in NSW before proceeding with its own probe into the company.

Investor money remains tied up as Star Entertainment’s shares currently aren’t available to trade on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) after it failed to report its annual report for the most recent fiscal year by the deadline.

Long-running problems

Australia’s casino sector has faced severe scrutiny in recent years. Authorities found that Star Entertainment was guilty of significant anti-money laundering failures, player protection issues, and other major compliance failings.

held onto its license following the initial probe in October 2022

It held onto its license following the initial probe in October 2022, but the regulator appointed a special manager, Nicholas Weeks, to oversee the remediation efforts. Despite the appointment, numerous issues raised further concerns, including an ATM malfunction that led to patrons getting AU$3.2m (US$2.1m) in free cash after it took the Star Sydney weeks to resolve the problem.

The other major casino company in Australia, Crown Resorts, dealt with similar issues and also had to pay nine-figure fines for its transgressions.