The Star issued ‘show cause’ notice by casino watchdog
The Star casino in Sydney has been given 14 days to demonstrate why it should not face further disciplinary action.
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Exclusive: The Star in Sydney has been hit with a “show cause” notice by the casino regulator, to explain why it should not face disciplinary action – including having its licence cancelled – for breaching casino laws.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal the NSW independent Casino Commission (NICC) has given Star Entertainment Group 14 days to respond to the notice which it issued on Friday morning.
The move follows a second inquiry into the casino, which found the company “had not moved quickly enough” to address the governance and cultural concern raised in the first inquiry.
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The regulator also claimed The Star had “only very recently” turned its attention to dealing with challenges “that should have been prioritised earlier”.
The show cause notice was flagged by NICC chief commissioner Philip Crawford during Budget Estimates last week, who told the hearing they were with the regulator’s lawyers.
“So you could assume that they’ll be served on the company Thursday or Friday next week when we’ve had a meeting and gone through them,” Mr Crawford said.
“They’ll call for a response within 14 days, so that takes us to the last couple of days of September.
“Then we’ll meet as a body in the early part of October and make a decision.”
The second inquiry was initiated by the regulator two years after a scathing report found the The Star was unfit to hold a casino licence.
The first report – undertaken by Adam Bell SC – money laundering, criminal infiltration and large scale fraud had been allowed to occur at the casino.
It also noted governance, risk management and cultural failures, with The Star fined $100 million and having its licence suspended indefinitely.
The regulator appointed Nicholas Weeks as manager – whose was appointment has since been extended four times up to March 2025 given the ongoing turmoil.
Earlier this year, The Star and the Minns government signed a jobs guarantee to protect more than 3000 jobs.
However, the deal will not protect workers should the casino be stripped of its licence.
During Budget Estimates, Gaming Minister David Harris admitted there was “only so much” the government could do.
“Our priority is to protect those jobs if we can, but we also have to take into account that we’re not responsible for Star’s financial position and there’s only so much the Government can do,” he said.
“Where we can, we will try to protect those jobs, and obviously there are penalties if Star is in breach of the agreement. But I think there are a lot of other issues that are out of our control.”
The Star said in a statement that it expected to respond to the show cause notice by September 27.
“The Star is currently considering the matters raised in the Notice, the additional requests by the NICC
as well as the Bell Two Report,” it said.
“The Star is continuing to work with various stakeholders and advisers in respect of its financial position.
“These discussions are ongoing and involve, among others, state governments, regulators and the company’s lenders.”
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