Star’s new CEO hit with $100m fine, licence suspension on his first day
Star Entertainment has been hit with a $100 million fine by the NSW regulator and had its licence suspended while it awaits the prospect of a similar fine later this year from Queensland.
The Star's Sydney casino
The NSW fine hit on the first day of Robbie Cooke’s term as Star’s chief executive.
There were also potential fines from Austrac over evidence from the Bell inquiry in NSW and the Gotterson inquiry in Queensland relating to money laundering and criminal figures who were encouraged to gamble at its casinos in Brisbane the and Gold Coast.
The Queensland Government has also introduced legislative amendments cracking down on the company’s operations with the possible introduction of a special manager to be imposed to oversee its reforms.
NSW Independent Casino Commission chief commissioner Philip Crawford said the suspension of the company’s licence would mean gaming at the Sydney casino was also suspended, effective from Friday. A special manager would hold the licence.
“The Star Casino will remain open and all staff will remain employed,” Crawford said.
“The Star’s licence is suspended and the manager will hold a casino licence.”
Crawford said he was not satisfied with Star’s reform plan.
“The remediation plan contained in the Star’s submission did not make much sense without the leadership of a competent and experienced CEO,” he said.
“Star’s new CEO, Robbie Cooke, commences at Star today. We have met with Mr Cook and he presents to us as someone who is absolutely capable of providing the strong leadership needed at the Star.”
Cooke has vowed to rehabilitate the embattled gambling and entertainment company.
“We need to be putting compliance at the top of the list and if you do that, it protects shareholder value,” he told AAP last week.
“There’s definitely some challenges in the business,” he said.
Mr Cooke vowed that “compliance will be put ahead of profits” under his leadership, adding that “cultural change won’t happen overnight”.
“My big focus to deal with those issues is my commitment to our regulators, to our government partners, to our 75,000 shareholders, 8000 team members and the community at large to rebuild trust.”
The Star said it was now considering the final version of Queensland legislative amendments to the Casino Control Act.
-with AAP
