June 2024
At Star, only the executives got a Christmas party
At an end-of-year dinner with chief executive Robbie Cooke, the casino group’s top managers learnt they were in a war with their regulator.
May 2024
At Star, one man held all the cards
Chief executive Robbie Cooke was determined to lead every important project at the troubled casino group, former executives say.
April 2024
Former Star CEO says he felt ‘under assault’ from casino regulator
Robbie Cooke left last month after NSW officials made it clear they did not think he was moving fast enough to fix governance and cultural issues at the group.
Robbie Cooke’s last stand shows Star Entertainment’s big problem
The gaming group’s former chief executive said he felt under attack by the company’s regulator. Has this us-and-them mentality really left the business?
Star’s ‘lost’ six months could cost it dearly
Star’s failure to change its culture after a series of scandals could now cost it the chance to win back its casino licence.
‘Get ready for war’: Star chairman and CEO’s descent into madness
The embattled casino group told the world it was co-operating with its regulator. But behind the scenes, it was dreaming up a hare-brained scheme to sue them.
March 2024
The $5b whack: why it’s time to come clean to Star’s shareholders
As the sheriff runs Star executives out of town again, things are starting to look like a corporate assassination and the sort of battle investors cannot win.
November 2023
High Roller: Melbourne brothers bank $78.6m for start-up
US-based Insight Partners has injected $US50 million ($78.6 million) into Melbourne-based software business Roller.
October 2023
Star’s capital-raise costs Robbie Cooke
Even before the AGM approves his retention rights, the casino titan’s CEO is out some $500,000 on their face value.
May 2023
Star CEO Cooke bites the bullet on job cuts, redundancies fly
The Star Entertainment Group boss spent one week reviewing all jobs across the organisation, before finding the 500 positions that would go.
April 2023
Star invested $1.3b in its Sydney casino, now it may have to sell it
This week, the battered gaming giant put on the table a possible sale of its flagship Sydney asset – a 28-year-old institution.
Star puts Sydney sale on the cards
Star Entertainment has put its flagship Sydney casino up for review and will cut 500 jobs, cancel executive bonuses this financial year, and freeze salaries.
NSW tax reprieve looks like long odds for Star
Any hopes that Labor will dramatically reverse course on its Coalition predecessors’ plan to increase casino taxes are misplaced.
February 2023
Star now has $1b of breathing space. It’ll need it
A capital raising will help bring much-needed stability to the casino giant’s balance sheet, but its legal, regulatory and operational problems still need to be fixed.
Star’s $1b wipeout is bad. It could get much worse
Scandals are hurting the company’s business, but the threat posed by a NSW government tax hike has investors fleeing for the exits.
January 2023
Star’s devastating tax hit smacks of populism
The NSW government levy that has wiped a stunning 30 per off the company’s valuation is an example of the sort of populist interventions investors should fear.
December 2022
Tax hit on Star is cost of a broken social licence
NSW Treasurer Matt Kean’s shock tax hit on Star Entertainment Group shows how friendless Australia’s scandal-hit casino operators really are.
October 2022
New Star CEO accepts casino ‘lost its way’, starts job early
Robbie Cooke, the current Tyro boss, will start work at the beleaguered casino group next Monday rather than December 31.
August 2021
Tyro narrows loss on surging transaction volume
Payments player sees a 26 per cent rise in transaction volumes despite horror outage in January that affected three in 10 customers.
June 2021
Tyro’s tilt at rebuilding terminal trust
The failed ‘handshake’ that brought down a significant proportion of Tyro’s terminals added insult to injury for many of its customers.