Star Entertainment has been hit with $15 million in fines by the NSW casino regulator and its licence suspension has been extended until early 2025.
The financially distressed Sydney casino will continue to be overseen by a government-appointed manager. NSW Independent Casino Commission chief commissioner Philip Crawford said the recent inquiry by Adam Bell, SC, had uncovered continuing compliance failures.
NSW Independent Casino Commission Chief commissioner Philip Crawford announces whether he will close The Star Casino SydneyCredit: Dominic Lorrimer
After Bell’s second report into the casino, which was released in August, Crawford on Thursday said he considered that cancelling Star’s licence would have been a “very final act”, noting the economic implications of the closure in NSW and Queensland.
“We’re very heavily still motivated by what our perception of the public interest is,” he said on Thursday.
“And if Sydney Star fails, the Star Group will fail, and that’s a group that employs 9000-plus people and if you add on to that, the huge number of suppliers to the business.”
Star shares were placed in a trading halt on Thursday morning. The stock has plunged 58 per cent in the past year, as the company’s financial and regulatory woes have deepened.
Crawford would not engage on whether the casino had become too big to fail, but said there was “no coming back if you take the licence away”.
“There’s no suggestion in this Bell Report of criminality. There’s no suggestion that organised crime infiltrated again, but there’s huge question marks over the last couple of years of their confidence and their capability,” he said.
“That can’t continue, but we’ve got plenty of work being done on the culture, and there’s no doubt that the staff are really keen to do the right thing to get on with business that they do need leadership. It’s a big company.”
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