Star slapped with maximum fine of $100m, given deadline to ‘get house in order’

The Queensland government has fined embattled casino operator Star $100 million and ordered an independent manager to monitor its operations, but has held off from suspending its Brisbane and Gold Coast licences.

The company has been found unfit to hold its three casino licences across NSW and Queensland, after two independent inquiries sparked by a 2021 investigation by this masthead that found it had enabled extensive alleged criminal activity.

Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman has said Star would have to “do everything they can” to be considered suitable casino licence holders by the time Queen’s Wharf is set to open next year.Credit: File images

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman told reporters on Friday the government was “sending a clear message that unlawful and criminal behaviour will not be tolerated in Queensland casinos”.

Alongside the fine, which mirrors the amount NSW regulators penalised the company and was possible only because of last-minute changes to state laws, Fentiman said the government would defer any licence suspension.

“Essentially, this means that Star has 12 months to get their house in order if they do not want to see a 90-day suspension of their licence,” Fentiman said. In NSW, the 90-day suspension was enforced immediately.

Nicholas Weeks, appointed as the independent manager of the flagship Sydney casino, will take up a similar role across the company’s Brisbane and Gold Coast sites with help from a Queensland-based assistant, former Sunsuper executive Terri Hamilton. Both casinos will still be able to operate.

However, Fentiman said the company would have to work closely with Weeks to “do everything they can to become suitable by the time Queen’s Wharf wants to open”.

A consortium including Star is building the $3.6 billion casino and resort development on prime riverfront CBD land, to which its current Brisbane licence will transfer when it opens in the second half of 2023.

“But if Star are not suitable by the time they want to open their doors, then there will be significant conditions placed on their licence,” Fentiman said. “The future of Queen’s Wharf and the casino license is really in Star’s hands.”

Fentiman suggested one such condition could be the continued oversight of an independent manager.

“This is about sending that strong message, and it is about significant penalties, but also allowing these casinos to remain open so that Queenslanders can remain employed,” she said.

The report into the Queensland casinos, by former Appeal Court president Robert Gotterson AO KC, found Star misled regulators, displayed “poor corporate culture” by courting gamblers excluded from interstate casinos and placed them at “real jeopardy” of criminal infiltration.

The company also faces further fines of hundreds of millions of dollars after financial watchdog AUSTRAC launched court action last week for alleged systemic non-compliance with national anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.

New chief executive Robbie Cooke has said he was committed to rebuilding the company’s reputation, but shareholders savaged leadership at its annual meeting last month.

Star shares were placed in a trading halt on Friday morning ahead of the Queensland announcement.

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