Chaos, paranoia and overreaction: Robbie Cooke’s tortured Star turn

Just 18 months ago Robbie Cooke walked through the front doors of casino operator Star Entertainment to reform a company which – in his words – had lost its way.

“The company really has stared into those issues and accepted them and is committed to do everything it takes to rehabilitate itself,” he told the press at that time.

Former Star Entertainment boss Robbie Cooke faced the inquiry today.Credit: Louie Douvis

And who better to walk the talk? Cooke had served his apprenticeship with well-regarded wagering doyen Unitab boss Dick McIlwain before jumping to the soon-to-float Wotif.com. His next job was back in the world of gambling as the head of pokies and lotteries operator Tatts – before its merger with Tabcorp.

When Cooke announced his departure from the Mike Cannon-Brookes-backed Tyro Payments in 2022, the payments provider had a backlog of woes to match The Star. But the potential redemption story at The Star was far more compelling.

And with Cooke’s knowledge of gambling, and experience with the gambling regulators, what could go wrong?

The answer from the latest inquiry into The Star is clear: Plenty.

Let’s start with Cooke’s own words about the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) view, as conveyed to him by his own chairman in December, that the commission had lost confidence in his ability to reform The Star.

“I was regarded as being arrogant, not listening, and not moving fast enough. That was my understanding at that time,” he told the inquiry on Wednesday.

To be fair to Cooke, his dealings with sleepy gambling regulators in previous roles would have offered zero preparation for the hothouse environment he faced at The Star, or the mammoth task needed to ensure the appalling culture of previous management was torn out at the roots.

Then there was the task of engineering a cultural revolution while trying to keep the highly regulated, and scrutinised, business afloat amid weakening financial circumstances.

Even before Cooke fronted the inquiry on Wednesday, other executives and board members had well laid out the chaos, which suggests Cooke had failed to make headway with either challenge.

As the management’s reportedly combative and paranoid attitude to the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) put an end to the casino operator’s hope of regaining the regulator’s trust. The most startling revelation from the inquiry is the suggestion that Cooke couldn’t even keep faith with his senior executives.

Cooke was adamant on Wednesday that a meeting in September last year with The Star’s chief legal officer, Betty Ivanoff, did not include Ivanoff tendering her letter of resignation, despite the inquiry receiving evidence to the contrary.

He was also at odds with the inquiry over the testimony of former chief financial officer Christina Katsibouba about her concerns over financial matters. And Cooke also disagreed over whether he had resigned of his own volition last month, or if the board had instructed him to go.

But all of that is small beer compared to an incident in January this year, which ultimately cost Cooke his job.

A meeting had been set up by the casino’s NICC-appointed special manager, Nicholas Weeks, that triggered suspicions that The Star was about to be hit by a fresh regulatory assault. At a time when the public messaging from The Star was one of co-operation with the regulator, frenzied texts between Cooke and his chairman David Foster spoke of “preparing for war” with the NICC.

For counsel assisting the inquiry, it was clear proof of the concerns last month – which triggered the second inquiry – that The Star may still be unfit to retain its casino licence.

To Cooke, these were just exchanges in the heat of the moment and reflected his view that the group was “under some form of attack.”

But he did make one concession about the sorry saga.

“I think I overreacted, yes.”

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