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The New South Wales (NSW) state casino regulator is considering its response to an external probe’s report that found The Star Entertainment Group remains unsuitable to recover its suspended casino licence.
The NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) on Friday (August 30) made public the first and second of the report’s three volumes into the second inquiry by Adam Bell SC into Star Entertainment’s licence suitability, but held fire over its decision on Star’s ability to operate its Sydney casino.
“The Bell Report reveals a company that had not moved quickly enough to address the governance and cultural concerns raised in the first Bell Report [in 2022],” NICC chief commissioner Philip Crawford said in a statement.
“It has only very recently turned its attention to dealing with challenges that should have been prioritised earlier,” he said.
Despite a second scathing report, Star’s years of non-compliance and hosting of criminal activity, and an ousted replacement leadership team that perpetuated company misbehaviour and conspired against the NICC-appointed special manager, Crawford has left a window wide open for the company’s survival.
“The [latest] Bell Report notes that [current senior management] bring important experience and expertise to the process of engagement with regulators, remediation and cultural transformation which will be vital if the NICC decides that The Star should remain as the operator of The Star Casino,” Crawford said.
“The level of transparency and cooperation has certainly improved since their appointments.”
Still, the NICC’s timing of the release of the report has raised eyebrows in Australia, coming one day after the opening of the Star consortium’s Queen’s Wharf integrated resort in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland state.
The release of the report forced Star to request a temporary trading halt on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) amid a delay to the release of its fiscal 2024 financial results, prompting the ASX on Monday to extend the trading suspension into this week.
The Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported on Sunday that the Star board and auditors were yet to sign off on the results amid so-far unsuccessful appeals to lenders, shareholders and government to restructure its financial obligations and secure greater tax relief.
The AFR also reported that Star Entertainment CEO Steve McCann will announce a A$1.4bn ($947m) impairment across the group’s assets. The newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying that all equity relating to Queen’s Wharf will be written off as part of the impairment.
The second Bell Report makes no assumption about the survival or demise of the company, with half of its 12 recommendations identifying further reforms should Star survive.
These reforms include changing the company’s constitution to enhance board independence and responsibilities and increase meeting frequency, as well as wider mechanisms to enhance compliance and internal communication.
The Bell Report also recommends amendments to the Casino Control Act 1992 to crack down on suitability assessments of companies and individuals, and to act against Star’s various legal and regulatory breaches, particularly regarding the loss of more than A$3.2m in slot machine transaction fraud.
In the meantime, the NICC has again extended special manager Nick Weeks’ appointment as independent overseer of Star operations from September 30 to March 31, 2025.
