The inquiry heard another gambler, referred to as Person Two, was banned from Victorian and NSW casinos but allowed to continue to gamble at the Gold Coast for up to seven years until 2021, despite his name being raised in media reports which linked him to ‘Ndrangheta.

It followed evidence of another gambler, known as Person One, who had been banned in NSW but feted by the Gold Coast and given presents including a $52,000 Rolex.

The head of Star’s anti money-laundering unit, Howard Steiner, admitted that a misspelling of Person Two’s name in either Star’s records or in media reports meant that despite his banning in two states he was not excluded from the Gold Coast.

The inquiry was told that at one stage, Star did not pursue the issue because it did not have a subscription to the media reports, which Steiner said showed a sclerotic response that no longer existed.

Steiner said that now under Star’s programs, “when someone is a high value player there is an initial hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck suspicion as a course of doing business”.

Consideration was taken in 2019 to exclude Person Two, but it was decided that there were no charges against him and that banning him would be a departure from long-standing practice.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Jonathan Horton said: Is that any reason not to have acted on exclusion?

“Clearly, this a feature of the appetite for risk and the culture of the past that does not exist today,” Steiner said.

Horton said it seemed to be an excuse that this is the way the company has always done business so it should continue to do it the same way.

“I think we have adjusted that attitude,” Steiner responded.

Horton said the exclusion of Person Two in two separate states should have led to an exclusion from the Gold Coast, something that did not happen until 2021, a proposition Steiner agreed with.

There was also evidence of Person Five who had self excluded himself from Star’s casino and was a politically exposed person, which meant he was a person employed by either a domestic or international government who had access to funds.

Person Five somehow managed to continue to gamble and display ”bizarre behaviour” at the Star casino. However, it took six years for a group-wide exclusion to be enforced.

The hearings are continuing.