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Chairman of troubled casino giant will run company – and get $2 million for the privilege

Star Entertainment’s chair John O’Neill will get a $2 million annual salary to run the troubled company in place of Matt Bekier, who resigned as managing director this week.

Apr 01, 2022, updated Apr 01, 2022
Outgoing Star Entertainment Group Chairman John O'Neill pictured with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at the Queens Wharf project site in 2018.  (AAP Image/Darren England)

Outgoing Star Entertainment Group Chairman John O'Neill pictured with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at the Queens Wharf project site in 2018. (AAP Image/Darren England)

And it appears the gaming group, which owns casinos in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney, is heading for a shakeup of its board following the money laundering scandal exposed by hearings at the Bell Inquiry in Sydney.

The latest evidence from the inquiry was that Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo bought $1.7 billion worth of chips at Sydney’s Star casino over five years until 2018.

No investigation of the source of the cash was carried out.

O’Neill will lead the company as executive chairman and Star said today that it “acknowledged the need for accelerated board change”.

It recently appointed Michael Issenberg to the board and said “further announcements would be made in due course”.

An executive search firm has also been appointed to find Bekier’s replacement.

But in the interim O’Neill will collect the salary of a chair and a managing director.

Through the upheaval, Star maintained it was focusing on its day-to-day activities and was committed to its 8000 staff and it was co-operating fully with the Bell Inquiry.

While inquiries in NSW, Victoria and WA have exposed a high level of money laundering and other activities in Australia’s casinos, the Queensland Government has so far refused to hold a public inquiry and is instead allowing its Office of Liquor and Gaming to meet with its NSW counterparts.

The lack of an inquiry led to Greens leader Michael Berkman claiming that Star had a strong hold on Queensland politics.

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Star is behind the $3.6 billion Queens Wharf development in the Brisbane CBD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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