Star Entertainment Group has convinced former Crown Resorts boss Steve McCann to helm the struggling casino operator from July 8 after weeks of negotiations.
McCann, who led Crown Resorts through its Blackstone takeover, already has probity approval and is one of the few executives whose reputation has emerged unscathed after holding a senior leadership position at either casino over the last four years.
He will receive a sign-on bonus of $2.5 million and could earn up to $10 million by the end of the 2026 financial year in bonuses. Taking on the new role, McCann has resigned from the board of Westfield shopping centres owner Scentre Group with immediate effect.
The Star’s Sydney casino in Pyrmont.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
The former Lendlease boss will primarily be charged with finding a way forward for The Star, which is just weeks away from knowing if it’ll be able to keep its NSW casino doors open, complete Star Sydney’s transition to cashless gaming by August and refinance the debt on its project with Far East Consortium and Chow Tai Fook Enterprises to open a $3.6 billion precinct in Queensland known as Queen’s Wharf Brisbane.
The company issued a sombre update on Monday, which revealed trading across its three casinos remains down due to a lack of high rollers. Its earnings have also been hampered by increased costs associated with its regulatory compliance.
The Star now expects to generate up to $1.68 billion in total revenue across its two casinos in Queensland and its casino in NSW this financial year. This is a fall from $1.8 billion in 2023, which was originally thought to be the low point for the embattled business.
It is still awaiting a multimillion-dollar penalty from the financial crimes watchdog, AUSTRAC (Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre), for its anti-money laundering breaches exposed in 2021.
McCann said he recognised the challenges the group faces and is prepared to address them.
“I am committed to working with the board and the various stakeholders to help drive change, restore confidence and achieve a sustainable resolution,” he said in a statement.
Chairman Anne Ward said the board was pleased to have secured McCann.
Steve McCann will run The Star.
“Given his time at Crown and previous long-standing leadership at Lendlease, he has the right credentials to lead The Star’s remediation program,” she said.
The Star’s ex-chief executive Robbie Cooke, former chief financial officer Christina Katsibouba and at least eight other senior executives all left the business earlier this year, with the NSW regulator unsure if the company was committed to a culture overhaul since it was first disgraced for extensive anti-money laundering and counterterrorism failings in 2021.
The NSW Independent Casino Commission engaged Adam Bell, SC, to launch a second probe into The Star earlier this year. His final report into whether the Pyrmont premises deserves its casino licence is due on July 31.
The company argued it’s not yet ready to operate independently but should be given conditional approval to keep its Sydney doors open.
Cooke and former chairman David Foster were singled out over three weeks of hearings into the group in April as being uncooperative with the NSW regulator and The Star’s special manager, Nicholas Weeks.
Text messages between Cooke and Foster were read out, which showed the chair had plotted to oust Weeks from the business and also suggested orchestrating a shareholder class action against the NSW watchdog. Foster later said the suggestion came from shareholders and not him.
The Star’s board first approached McCann earlier this year after it became clear Cooke’s position was not tenable. Cooke stepped down at the end of March.
McCann was considered to be collaborative with the regulator during his tenure at Crown Resorts, which has had a far smoother process to becoming declared suitable to operate its Barangaroo casino.
A spokesperson for the NSW regulator said it was encouraged by McCann’s appointment.
“McCann’s experience in navigating the complexities of remediation will serve The Star well as it prepares for the challenges ahead,” the spokesperson said.
Crown Barangaroo hadn’t opened yet when the parent company was savaged by two royal commissions into its casino operations. This meant it was able to restructure its strategy for the Sydney premises more easily than The Star, which had to juggle the transformation of its NSW business while trading.
McCann’s appointment comes after The Star named one of his former Crown executives, Jeannie Mok, as its chief operating officer last month. Mok joined The Star after two years at Crown, where she led its transformation strategy and multi-year road map towards suitability to operate its casinos in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
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