The Star has been issued with a show cause notice by the New South Wales Independent Casino Commission (The NICC).
The statutory authority is asking for a response from The Star and why it shouldn’t take action with regard to breaches raised within the second Bell Report.
This is the final report in relation to the 2024 independent inquiry into The Star, and the notice from The NICC relates to four “significant” breaches.
Included in the breaches was one which was said to have resulted in a cash fraud against The Star, another looked at a failure to run source of wealth checks on hundreds of members flagged as high risk and fraudulent guest welfare entries which put already vulnerable customers at a higher risk of harm.
On top of this, the notice looked at The Star’s management, operation and culture, the adequacy and implementation of its remediation plan and the overall suitability of the company to hold a casino license.
With this, The Star has 14 days to respond to The NICC’s show notice, and it may face disciplinary action from this, such as cancellation of licence, a pecuniary penalty, etc.
Within an announcement, The Star confirmed the show cause notice, saying: “The Star expects to respond to the Notice by Friday 27 September 2024.
“The Star is currently considering the matters raised in the Notice, the additional requests by the NICC as well as the Bell Two Report.
“The Star is continuing to work with various stakeholders and advisers in respect of its financial position. These discussions are ongoing and involve, among others, State governments, regulators and the Company's lenders.”
This news comes after this week saw lenders of The Star Entertainment Group offering the casino operator an additional AU$150m (US$100.76m) to tide over the cash crisis caused by cost overruns at its new Brisbane casino and a decrease in patronage.
