Two-up part of new owner’s plan to return Star to Aussies

Come in spinner – the new owner of The Star wants to bring back two-up has vowed to turn the Sydney casino’s focus from Asian whales to Aussie locals.

The new owner of The Star wants to bring back two-up and has vowed to turn the Sydney casino’s focus from Asian whales to Aussie locals.

The Star Entertainment Group has been sold to US casino operator Bally’s Corp, whose chairman Soo Kim has promised to return it to its Australian roots.

“I love the idea of bringing back two-up,” he said. The Star stopped playing two-up in 2003 because it was considered too expensive to run the pit with three dealers and two game supervisors.

Legally it is now only possible to play two-up on Anzac Day, Victory in the Pacific Day and Remembrance Day. Bringing it back at any other time would require approval from the NSW Independent Casino Commission.

“It is so authentic, I cannot believe they ever let it go,” Mr Soo said.

He paid $300 million to buy The Star’s three casino properties in Sydney, Brisbane and The Gold Coast, with $100m of that put up by Australian pub billionaire Bruce Mathieson. At its height, the group was valued at $5 billion.

The Star at Pyrmont in Sydney. The casino’s focus will switch from Asian whales to Aussie locals.

The new owner of The Star wants to bring back two-up. Picture: Roni Bintang/Getty Images

Mr Soo said the deal still had to go through regulatory and shareholder approvals and it was not clear if it would include the Queen’s Wharf project in Brisbane or control of the Lyric Theatre in Sydney.

Once the deal has been signed off, he has vowed to sweep out the management team but aims to keep as many of The Star group’s 8000 employees as possible.

“We are going to come in and import our management expertise and our people,” he said. “There are thousands of employees depending on us to succeed … you cannot cost-cut your way to success.”

Bally’s runs 19 casinos in the US that were struggling until Mr Soo took them over.

“It’s our heritage. We are a regional casino operator which some may not see as sexy but these are for locals and that’s what we need to do in Australia,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be some big fancy Vegas-style casino. During its heyday, this company turned its sights away from the local market to Asia as a whole.”

In NSW that led to a government inquiry that found it ignored money laundering activities in its high roller areas, a suspended casino licence and a NSW Independent Casino Commission-appointed manager to run operations.

The Star Sydney and Bally’s Corp chairman Soo Kim.

Mr Soo dismissed Crown as a serious rival to The Star in Sydney.

“The Crown isn’t a casino, full stop. We would never put a casino at the end of a cul-de-sac,” he said.

By contrast, he said The Star “has good bones” and can be turned around once his team gets to look at the financials and understand how a company with “such high revenue can have such low margins”.

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Originally published as Two-up part of new owner’s plan to return Star to Aussies