Star Casino Hit With AU$15 Million Fine, License Reassessment Set For 2025 After Misconduct Probe

The Sydney Star Casino was reportedly facing a fine of AU$15 million, apart from its license being suspended, but not cancelled entirely, after being accused of serious misconduct and noncompliance.

The NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) said it will reassess the casino's condition and take a decision on whether it should regain its license by March 31, 2025.

The penalty imposed by the NSW NICC came after two investigations, known as the Bell Inquiries, into the casino, which uncovered serious misconduct, compliance failures, and governance issues, ABC reported.

Philip Crawford, NICC chief commissioner, said The Star was found to have repeatedly violated compliance protocols and that operations inside the business "fell short of suitability," per Nine News.

Crawford added that Star Casino saw minor improvements relating to transparency and accountability since the appointment of its new CEO, Steve McCann, but the casino still had a long way to go before the regulatory body reinstates its license.

"Despite more prescriptive supervision that prevented the type of misconduct seen in the first inquiry, numerous shortcomings in governance, regulatory compliance, technology and risk management remain, including in areas that The Star claimed it had remediated," Crawford said. "Reform in the systems, policies, processes and culture that support these areas cannot be understated in a business as complex as The Star's."

"In a casino setting, compliance breaches can have serious consequences for the community, and the Bell Report illustrated how quickly weak controls can lead to criminal infiltration and gambling harm."

"We just regard it as a very final act and there's no coming back if you take the license away," he said.

"If Sydney Star fails, the Star group will fail and that's a group that employs 9,000-plus people, and if you add onto that the huge number of suppliers to the business, it would effect the lives of a lot of people. It would be a very, very final act to take the licence away, particularly given the current economic times."

The Star Entertainment Group Limited told ABC that they will "continue to engage constructively with the NICC in respect of The Star Sydney and its operations while its licence remains suspended".

"The Star looks forward to continuing its constructive engagement with both the NICC, Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation and its other stakeholders."