This Month
How much is Star’s Sydney casino worth? Just $8m, says Barrenjoey
The broker has warned clients that the company will post years of losses as it struggles with falling revenues and big costs involved in developing its hotels.
- Zoe Samios
September
The two months that almost unravelled Star’s casino empire
Steve McCann knew his new job at the struggling gaming giant would be tough. Nothing prepared him for the first two months.
- Zoe Samios and Anthony Macdonald
‘On its knees’: Star slashes $1b off its casinos, slumps to huge loss
The gaming company has released its financial accounts almost a month after its shares were suspended.
- Zoe Samios, Anthony Macdonald and James Hall
- Updated
- Gaming & wagering
Star Entertainment set to sign financial accounts as bailout finalised
The company – which operates casinos in Sydney, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast – has been in turmoil after it failed to lodge its accounts with the ASX.
- Updated
- Zoe Samios and Anthony Macdonald
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Star funding deal done, now to prevent a white elephant
Star Entertainment’s directors will get over one hurdle, only to face the next. Such is the life of a casino operator in 2024.
- Anthony Macdonald
Star’s Queen’s Wharf comes to life – unless you want to shop or eat
It’s been dubbed a “multistaged opening” or, in other words, a work in progress. But the sight of hi-vis and faint smell of sawdust haven’t deterred visitors.
- Tess Bennett
Queensland government set to hand Star Entertainment a tax lifeline
Street Talk understands the state government has agreed to morph Star’s looming tax bill into a Treasury loan.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
- Updated
- Gaming & wagering
Online casino mogul gets into lotteries as profits surge
Revenues at Virtual Gaming Worlds, which pioneered the use of a loophole to offer casino-like games with cash prizes in the US, has soared above $6 billion, accounts show.
- Updated
- Primrose Riordan
- Exclusive
- Crown Resorts
Blackstone’s Crown Resorts mulls sale of luxury Melbourne golf course
The 18-hole Capital is one of the country’s most private and catered exclusively for the casino group’s high rollers. Now wealthy businessmen want to revive it.
- Zoe Samios
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
McCann’s first trick at Star is to buy time, next he needs performance
Star Entertainment’s board hired Steve McCann for his deal nous. He had to call on it sooner than we all expected.
- Anthony Macdonald
- Exclusive
- Gaming & wagering
Star Entertainment lands $100m instant cash injection in bailout deal
The casino’s lenders are now seeking approvals for a new two-tranche loan that would give new chief executive Steve McCann a chance to turn around the business.
- Anthony Macdonald and Zoe Samios
- Exclusive
- The Star Entertainment Group
Star’s lenders offer $150m lifeline as casino fights for survival
The gaming group, which operates in Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, has been in turmoil since its shares were suspended from trade earlier this month.
- Zoe Samios and Anthony Macdonald
Blackstone is burning through Crown Casino
The global real estate giant has lost another top-ranking casino executive, to go with the two others who left last month.
- Mark Di Stefano
Star confirms sale of Treasury Casino site in scramble for cash
The troubled gaming company has ended months of speculation, pocketing a much-needed $60.7 million from selling its Brisbane property to Griffith University.
- James Hall and Zoe Samios
Vow to release secret Queensland report into Star’s HK partner
The report into Star Entertainment’s marquee Brisbane casino examined possible criminal links with one of its business partners.
- James Hall and Zoe Samios
- Exclusive
- The Star Entertainment Group
Star Entertainment’s banks baulk at cost blowouts and demands for debt
The ASX-listed casino operator has been negotiating with its lenders for days. But delays getting security over individual properties is slowing down progress.
- Zoe Samios, Anthony Macdonald and James Hall
- Opinion
- The AFR View
No tax break bailout for Star’s casino racket
The question posed by Star’s financial struggles and concerns about its Queen’s Wharf partner is whether any casino in Australia can be profitable without dirty money.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
McCann’s Star plan collides with angry lenders, politics
It’s one thing to have a turnaround plan, it is another to get the clear air to pull it off.
- Anthony Macdonald
- Updated
- Gaming & wagering
Sceptical NSW poised to reject Star’s pleas for tax relief
But the Queensland government appears open to allowing the embattled casino operator to push back the tax debt that it owes, to give it breathing room.
- Updated
- Zoe Samios and James Hall
- Exclusive
- The Star Entertainment Group
Star asks lenders for relief and money to secure financial future
The struggling casino giant has also asked for temporary tax relief from the NSW and Queensland governments as it prepares to resume trading on Monday.
- Zoe Samios and Anthony Macdonald