When will Star Entertainment end its ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ farce?

The farce unfolding at Star Entertainment is starting to resemble the plot of the hit movie Weekend At Bernie’s where a corpse is propped up so everyone can continue the party.

A still from the 1980s hit movie Weekend at Bernie's.

The farce unfolding at Star Entertainment is starting to resemble the hit movie Weekend At Bernie’s.

Like the dead Bernie, Star is starting to well and truly smell, but chief executive Steve McCann and his crew are continuing the party seemingly unaware.

Months after it should have been dragged off to the corporate morgue, Star Entertainment is still being propped up with sunglasses and hat on the side of the pool just like Bernie was after being killed by the mob.

Surely this long and drawn-out death of what was once a major player in the casino sector has to end, and quickly. The sooner administrators are appointed the better for everyone, including for the company’s almost 9000 staff, lenders and suppliers.

At least then everyone can move on, plan for the future and rebuild. No one is winning by extending its life.

Let’s not forget this company has some fantastic assets that will be big money spinners in the future if run properly and free of the bitter legacy of the past.

Industry insiders say they don’t envisage any scenario where the casinos could close. Governments of all persuasions like the jobs they create and the ancillary services surrounding them. In fact both the Queensland and NSW governments might prefer to help out a new operator rather than the tarnished Star.

The politics of helping Star Entertainment are not good, given it’s a company that has constantly thumbed its nose at the regulatory process.

Once Star Entertainment is dispatched to the afterlife, hard questions need to be asked about why the board did not pull the pin sooner given the company is reportedly less than a week from running out of cash.

The “radio silence” that met investors on Friday when Star for the second time in six months failed to lodge its financial results on time speaks volumes about Star’s increasing lackadaisical attitude to shareholders.

The Star Casino in Sydney. Picture: AFP

The lessons of Bell II, where Star was criticised for not being transparent with regulators, do not seem to be heeded even now.

A convoluted ASX release about the company looking at “liquidity solutions” sounded more like something to describe an adult nappy than a clear explanation to investors.

A share halt was called only for the shares to begin trading again at lunchtime, falling 15 per cent to close the day at 11c.

The company’s biggest shareholder, pubs baron Bruce Mathieson, cannot be alone when he described the whole situation as a “mess”.

Mathieson, who was one of the biggest fans of Steve McCann when he was appointed last year, must surely be disappointed about how things have so quickly gone pear-shaped.

Even if Star does cobble together a new funding arrangement over the weekend, surely it will only be a temporary reprieve.

There is just too much debt, too many looming penalties from regulators including Austrac and too much ill will from governments.

Time to look at the clock and note time of death.

This week ASIC resumes its prosecutions of Star’s former board and executive team for breaches of duties in relation to money laundering controls.

It is set to be another brand damaging encounter and another reason why there needs to be a reset.

Fans of Weekend At Bernie’s will recall the movie ends with the main character being taken away in a straitjacket still believing Bernie is alive. Let’s hope we don’t get to that stage at Star.