Just days after opening its new casino at Queen’s Wharf in Brisbane, employees of The Star remain in limbo.
The centerpiece of the new precinct employs around 3000 people including 1400 new jobs.
The Star Entertainment Group was suspended by the ASX last Monday after it breached reporting conditions by failing to lodge its financial accounts for the last financial year. The company said it was still assessing its financial outlook.
Shares in the company were placed in a trading halt following the public release of findings from an inquiry into a litany of failures within the organisation’s operations.
Its share price plunged from more than $5 in 2018 to 45c at the last market close.
In 2022 The Star was found to be unsuitable to hold a casino licence in NSW by lawyer Adam Bell SC who was commissioned by the NSW casino regulator. Since then it has been working internally to rectify various matters.
Treasury secretary Michael Coutts-Trotter said The Star’s financial problems were largely due to the Queen’s Wharf venue in Brisbane.
The Queensland government has delayed a threatened suspension of its casino licences in Brisbane and the Gold Coast until after the latest NSW inquiry.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles was last week reported as saying that the worst-case scenario would be that they (Star) would have to close their doors not long after opening them.
He added the state government would do everything it could to avoid that, with discussions about tax deferrals and labelled the site a “fantastic asset for our city”.
The Star is trying to sell its Treasury Casino in Brisbane now that it has moved to Queen’s Wharf.
Its Sydney licence remains suspended after the first inquiry found damning evidence of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism failings, although it has been allowed to keep the casino operating with a regulator-appointed manager.
But the second Adam Bell-led inquiry declared in its report the period since the last findings in 2022 had been “marked by lost opportunities and missteps”, including four significant compliance breaches.
Investigations highlighted serious breaches of rules around three-hour limits on gaming without patrons taking a break.
It showed “systemic and extremely serious issues” involving multiple Star staff falsifying records to suggest they had intervened in players’ extended gambling stretches when no interaction had taken place.
The NSW Independent Casino Commission said it was considering its next steps for the future of the suspended operator as it worked through the second report’s findings.
The company has since appointed the former boss of rival Crown, Steve McCann, as its chief executive.