Star casino wooed banned highroller with Rolex, inquiry hears
A highroller banned by NSW police from gambling at Star’s Sydney casino was lured to Queensland with a $52K watch and a birthday cake, inquiry told.
A highroller banned from Star’s flagship Sydney casino by police order was lured to the company’s Gold Coast casino with a $52,000 gold Rolex watch, concert tickets, limousine rides and private jet flights, an inquiry has heard.
The second day of public hearings into Star’s Queensland business focused on how the gambling giant allowed big-spending customers with links to money-laundering operations to gamble in its casinos in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
Star’s chief of domestic and international casino marketing, Chris Peasley, was involved in approving presents to encourage “high-risk and high-value customers” to Queensland, counsel assisting the inquiry, Jonathan Horton QC, submitted.
Mr Horton suggested the expensive gifts were designed to lure the banned gambler, referred to as Person One, to Queensland for “repeat visitations”.
Mr Peasley accepted he approved the gifting of a $52,695 Rolex watch to Person One, despite knowing he had been excluded from Star’s Sydney casino on the orders of the NSW Police Commissioner in about 2007.
When asked by Mr Horton if the watch, given in early 2019, was designed to lure Person One to the Gold Coast, Mr Peasley replied: “I can see how you can draw that conclusion but the intent was to reward them for loyalty and recognise (a) milestone birthday.”
A custom-made cake in the shape of Rolex was given to Person One on the day of his birthday because the watch was not ready. In an email shown to the court, Mr Peasley described this as a “genius idea”.
Person One was also given tickets to the Village People and John Farnham concerts, two trips in a private jet, “very many” dinners and accommodation upgrades for himself and friends.
Some perks came out of the gambler’s loyalty points.
One private jet flight followed a $50,000 deposit by Person One into a playing account.
Mr Peasley said he became aware Person One was banned in Sydney in early 2016 “on the back of media coverage”, which prompted a meeting of Star sales employees on how to deal with the highroller.
“The conclusion was (Person One) can go to the property, they can participate in the loyalty program and can receive those benefits of the loyalty program,” Mr Peasley said.
“We aren’t to pursue them, we can receive their phone calls, make their bookings, and they are to be treated the same as other customers of their play level.”
Asked whether he was worried that a gambler banned from the Sydney casino over suspicions of criminal activity could involve Queensland casinos in illegal activity, Mr Peasley said “I wouldn’t say it caused worry … It caused concern, and that’s why I had reached out to the specialist (anti-money laundering) team. It certainly raises a concern or red flags.”
Mr Peasley acknowledged there had been “ failing from the get go” with Star’s exclusion policy. “Looking at the exclusion policy, I would say we were not in-line with the policy,” he said.
“We thought we were recognising loyalty.”
The inquiry heard a request for an extra $31,000 of “comp” (complimentary) for Person One was made after the gambler suffered losses of more than $885,000 in the previous three months.
An email exchange between Star sales employees revealed some free betting vouchers were arranged for Person One after he lost $450,000 in just 20 minutes and was “very angry as expected”.
Mr Horton suggested the extra perks were to ensure Person One would continue to gamble at the casino. Mr Peasley said it was to ensure the casino was “managing our customer base correctly”.
A separate NSW inquiry into Star’s flagship Sydney casino earlier this year heard allegations the gambling giant enabled suspected money laundering, organised crime, fraud and foreign interference.
Findings will be handed to regulators next week.
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