What has happened so far in Star’s (ASX:SGR) fight to save casino licences?

November 06, 2022 07:30 AM AEDT | By Sonal Goyal

What has happened so far in Star’s (ASX:SGR) fight to save casino licences? — Image source: © Nvuk | Megapixl.com

What was the matter?

Last month, Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman declared that The Star is not fit to have a casino licence. The Attorney-General said so after considering a report by Robert Gotterson AO and the findings in the Bell Review in New South Wales.

Robert Gotterson undertook an independent external review of the company’s operation under section 91 of the Casino Control Act 1982.

What do the notices state?

The show cause notices to the subsidiaries of The Star highlight the potential disciplinary actions that can be taken. The authority can take no action or one or more actions in this case, according to the ASX announcement.

The disciplinary actions that might be taken are:

written directions.
a letter of censure.
a penalty of around AU$100 million.
appointment of a special manager or suspension or cancellation of the casino licence.

Highlights of Gotterson’s report

The following are key issues Gotterson’s report highlighted:

The company had allowed people to gamble at its Queensland casinos who are excluded by the direction of the police commissioners of NSW and Victoria. Also, the company had allowed people who it had grounds to suspect were involved in criminal activities to gamble at its Queensland casinos.
The Star’s conduct with its banker regarding the use of China UnionPay debit card facilities – which the report characterises as “at best, less than forthcoming” – raised some red flags. The report states that these transactions were related to gambling rather than hotels, contrary to how The Star had characterised them.

The group’s anti-money laundering/counterterrorism financing program was “seriously deficient” and remained deficient in certain aspects despite some improvement.

Disclaimer

The content, including but not limited to any articles, news, quotes, information, data, text, reports, ratings, opinions, images, photos, graphics, graphs, charts, animations and video (Content) is a service of Kalkine Media Pty Ltd (Kalkine Media, we or us), ACN 629 651 672 and is available for personal and non-commercial use only. The principal purpose of the Content is to educate and inform. The Content does not contain or imply any recommendation or opinion intended to influence your financial decisions and must not be relied upon by you as such. Some of the Content on this website may be sponsored/non-sponsored, as applicable, but is NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold the stocks of the company(s) or engage in any investment activity under discussion. Kalkine Media is neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice through this platform. Users should make their own enquiries about any investments and Kalkine Media strongly suggests the users to seek advice from a financial adviser, stockbroker or other professional (including taxation and legal advice), as necessary. Kalkine Media hereby disclaims any and all the liabilities to any user for any direct, indirect, implied, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising from any use of the Content on this website, which is provided without warranties. The views expressed in the Content by the guests, if any, are their own and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Kalkine Media. Some of the images/music that may be used on this website are copyright to their respective owner(s). Kalkine Media does not claim ownership of any of the pictures displayed/music used on this website unless stated otherwise. The images/music that may be used on this website are taken from various sources on the internet, including paid subscriptions or are believed to be in public domain. We have used reasonable efforts to accredit the source wherever it was indicated as or found to be necessary.