Star loses top executive ahead of decision day on Sydney casino licence

The Star Entertainment Group has lost another key executive just ahead of a crucial decision by regulators on the future of its Sydney casino licence.

The Star’s Queen’s Wharf development in Brisbane.

The Star Entertainment Group has lost another key executive just ahead of a crucial decision by regulators on the future of its Sydney casino licence.

The Star told the ASX on Wednesday that chief risk officer Scott Saunders had given notice of his resignation. The casino group said Mr Saunders will continue in the role for six months to continue ongoing work in relation to The Star’s remediation efforts.

The Star acting chief executive Neale O’Connell thanked Mr Saunders for his dedication during his 18-month stint with the company.

“I want to thank Scott for his commitment to The Star during a difficult and transformative period and wish him well in his future endeavours,” said Mr O’Connell. A search for a new group chief risk officer will commence shortly.

Mr Saunders resigned on the same day that Adam Bell SC was due to hand his recommendation to the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) on whether The Star is suitable to retain its Sydney casino licence. That followed a six-week inquiry by Mr Bell that uncovered a series of regulatory failings by the casino group.

Mr Saunders joined Star in February 2023 from Westpac where he was general manager, financial crime and chief compliance officer. Prior to that, he was responsible for enterprise and financial crime compliance at Macquarie Group.

The Australian this week revealed that an explosive report at the centre of Star’s battle with the NSW regulator was slammed by the casino’s board for lacking balance, being riddled with errors as well as being “selective” and “incomplete.” The confidential report by Star’s independent manager Nick Weeks became the spark that set off a chain of events for the casino leading to a near clash with independent casino commissioner Philip Crawford.

The Star told the ASX on Wednesday that chief risk officer Scott Saunders had given notice of his resignation. Picture: John Feder

Star shares have surged 15 per cent in the past five days after The Australian reported that as many as four bidders are circling its struggling operations. That included a cashed-up Los Angeles-based casino developer who lobbed plans to dramatically upgrade Star’s local offering. Brent Stevens, the founder and chairman of US casino investor Peninsula Pacific, was in Australia for more than a week last month looking at Star’s Sydney and Queensland properties. Mr Bell’s report is expected to determine the long-term future of Star, which this year has seen a wave of senior management and boardroom exits, including chairman David Foster and chief executive Robbie Cooke.

Mr Saunders told the Bell II inquiry in April that a multimillion-dollar fraud committed against Star could occur again because of a culture within the troubled casino operator that assumed the customer was always right.

The fraud occurred when defects in Star’s “ticket in, cashout” machines allowed customers to reuse winning tickets after they were mistakenly returned to them. That resulted in very large amounts of cash, totalling $3.2m, being provided to customers in circumstances where they should not have received it.

“I am satisfied the technology issue has been solved, but I can’t say it can’t happen again. I can’t say we have solved all the cultural issues,” Mr Saunders told the inquiry, referring to the fact that the fraud took two months to be discovered.

“Star sees itself as an entertainment company and the customer is always right, and we just do what the customer wants.

“We are in the process of changing that culture and turning it into a highly-regulated entity and that means customers are not always right and may have a gambling addiction and don’t actually know what is best for them.”

Mr Saunders said he was concerned Star was not on the same wavelength with casino regulators on the way to clean up its performance. Its shares closed flat at 58c.

Originally published as Star loses top executive ahead of decision day on Sydney casino licence