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Queen's Wharf

September

New Star Entertainment CEO Steve McCann’s fix-up job has barely begun.

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
Tourists and locals at Queen’s Wharf in Brisbane this week. But much of the complex is still closed, and is opening in stages.

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’s Opposition has vowed to release the findings of a secret report into Star’s casino if it forms government next month.

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
The federal government should establish a national mandatory pre-commitment system across all online gambling.

It’s time Australia put the guardrails on its gambling habit

The public is ready for gambling reform, if only politicians were brave enough to take it up.

  • Aruna Sathanapally

August

Once completed, the Neville Bonner Bridge will connect South Bank’s cultural precinct with the top end of the CBD.

Queen’s Wharf opening to revive Brisbane – and Star Entertainment

After years under construction and a stream of opening delays, Brisbane’s mega $3.6 billion resort and casino complex will finally fling open its doors next week.

  • James Hall
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Steve McCann with another thoroughbred enthusiast,  King Charles III.

Star’s Steve McCann and the Malay tycoon

Sources say McCann has been doing a range of work for the low-profile Malaysian businessman since leaving Crown Resorts.

  • Updated
  • Myriam Robin

July

Steve McCann: well-rested, before his London trip.

Steve McCann’s big London trip

McCann took the reins of Star Entertainment on July 8. And on July 15, he was off to London, with the board’s acquiescence.

  • Myriam Robin

March

Star attracts a range of customers to its casinos in Queensland and NSW, including VIP high rollers.

Embattled Star caught in HWL Ebsworth breach

Hackers stole 2.5 million documents from HWL Ebsworth clients last April. Some of Star’s customers and employees were compromised.

  • Zoe Samios

January

The interior redesign by Anna Carin and Melinda Bekier overlooks a garden by landscape architect Asher Cole.

Energy guru takes keys to ex-Star CEO’s record-setting Sydney home

Energy expert Olivia Kember has emerged as the record-setting $13.5 million buyer of former Star Casino boss Matt Bekier’s converted warehouse in Sydney’s inner west.

  • Bonnie Campbell
The Star reported a full-year loss of $2.44 billion for the 2023 financial year.

Ord Minnett hoovers up Star shares with fingers pointed at Mathieson

The billionaire publican already controls about six per cent of the embattled casino operator. He is also a shareholder in the stockbroking firm.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

December 2023

Betty Ivanoff, Star’s chief legal officer, quietly left the business last month.

Executive departures deepen Star Entertainment’s legal woes

Betty Ivanoff, a former group counsel at Crown Resorts and Coca-Cola Amatil, resigns after about six months in the role.

  • Zoe Samios

August 2023

Stretching it out further? Progress on the Queens Wharf Resort and casino in Brisbane, already delayed until April, is at risk of further delay from a legal fight between builder Multiplex and its Destination Brisbane Consortium client.

Queens Wharf consortium stops paying Multiplex bills

The Destination Brisbane Consortium claims delay payments of $123 million against the builder and is offsetting those against progress claim payments.

  • Michael Bleby

June 2023

Brisbane’s planned $3.6 billion Queen Wharf resort complex is expected to change the face of the city. But it has been delayed, again.

Star Entertainment’s Queen’s Wharf project delayed, again

Star’s $3.6b resort and casino planned to open before Christmas, but it is now expected to welcome customers in April 2024.

  • Zoe Samios

February 2023

Construction on the Queen’s Wharf casino development in Brisbane’s CBD, as photographed in late 2022.

Star’s Queen’s Wharf partner has colourful clippings

Last week, Star accepted $40 million from a Hong Kong company with alleged links to criminal gangs and triads.

  • Myriam Robin

October 2022

Star is the main partner in the $3.6 billion Queen’s Wharf project in Brisbane’s CBD.

Star’s Qld casino licence under threat after damning review

Another damning review into Star Entertainment’s handling of its casinos, this time in Queensland, offers the prospect of massive fines, suspension or loss of its licences.

  • Updated
  • Mark Ludlow and Hannah Wootton
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June 2022

Star Entertainment has accepted it was “inappropriate and unacceptable” to withhold adverse KPMG reports about anti-money laundering controls at its casinos from regulators.

Star says it was ‘unacceptable’ to have hidden reports from regulators

But, as it fights to hold on to its Sydney casino licence, Star also said a review should not find it attempted to conceal evidence from regulators.

  • Lucas Baird

June 2020

The Star will be the only casino in Sydney with pokies.

The Star snares exclusive ahead of Crown Sydney opening

The Star will be the only casino in Sydney where punters can use gaming machines, as it revealed a new 20-year tax agreement with the NSW government.

  • James Thomson

April 2020

The Star has won more breathing space with a new debt facility.

The Star gets breathing space with new debt facility

The Star Entertainment Group has secured $200 million in additional debt funding and slashed operating costs to just $10 million a month.

  • James Thomson
Cranes on the Queen's Wharf project dominate the Brisbane skyline.

Big projects embrace social distancing to stay open

Mega-infrastructure projects in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are managing to stay open during the coronavirus.

  • Mark Ludlow
Hotel room lights spell out "Vegas Strong" at the Wynn hotel-casino along the Las Vegas Strip as casinos and other business are shuttered due to the coronavirus outbreak

Almost all bets are off: casino capitals broken by virus

The global business of gambling - which thrives on air travel and large groups of people in close proximity - is one of the hardest hit as the world goes into lockdown.

  • Farah Master

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