Star Entertainment, the operator of three Australian casinos, intends to close its corporate office in Brisbane "in its current form", according to a report by the Australian Financial Review that was relayed by trade publication Casino.org. The company's chief executive, Bruce Mathieson Jr, confirmed the intention to the business outlet.
The Star's casino portfolio consists of The Star Gold Coast, The Star Sydney and The Star Brisbane. This article concerns land-based casinos. Online casino services remain prohibited in Australia under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001.
What the company has said
According to Casino.org, Mr Mathieson told the Australian Financial Review that "some tough decisions must be made" and that the company must "seize the moment in order to build a stronger and sustainable Star".
"The corporate office has added complexity rather than value and simplification. We must get closer to our customers and to your frontline team. And we have to meet the regulatory imperative to decentralize the business and empower our property teams." — Bruce Mathieson Jr, Star Entertainment chief executive, as quoted by Casino.org
The corporate headquarters currently employs about 600 people, according to investor filings with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), as cited by Casino.org. The source does not say how many of those roles would be lost, when the closure would take effect, or what the expected savings are. Casino.org describes the move as one that will significantly reduce the organisation's costs, but it gives no figure.
Ownership and recent restructuring
Casino.org reports that US-based Bally's Corporation acquired a controlling stake in Star last year. Bally's is owned by billionaire Soo Kim's private equity firm Standard General. It bought a roughly 61% stake for AU$300 million through a partnership with the Mathieson family. By the report's figures, Bally's holds approximately 38% and the Mathieson family 23%.
Since the takeover, the report says, Mr Kim and Mr Mathieson Jr, who has since become chief executive, have sought to stabilise the business by trimming overhead and generating quick revenue. In August, Star finalised a deal to sell 50% of The Star Brisbane. Casino.org says that freed the company from more than AU$1 billion in debt.
The compliance backdrop
The decision follows years of scrutiny. Casino.org says Star's problems began in 2021 with reports that the company, along with rival Crown Resorts, had largely looked the other way on money laundering. Subsequent government inquiries found Star was no longer suitable to hold gaming licences, on claims that its casinos were being used by criminal syndicates to launder money.
Star was also accused of failing to promote responsible gambling, falsifying business records, and having a corporate leadership marked by "institutional arrogance", according to the report. Rather than having its licences stripped, Star was given time to rectify its conduct. Casino.org says the company overhauled its corporate and managerial ranks, invested heavily in staff retraining to comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules, and paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.
Casino.org's own assessment is that removing the corporate office and having each casino ensure its own suitability "could be a risky bet". Without a universal system, compliance responsibilities would rest with each casino's management team. That is the publication's assessment rather than a finding by a regulator.
What is not yet known
The source does not say how the change would be received by Star's state-based gaming regulators, nor whether any regulator has been consulted or has approved the plan. It also does not set out how anti-money laundering and responsible gambling controls would be structured at each property, who would be accountable at group level, or what happens to the roles currently in the Brisbane office. Pokiestralia will report further detail when it is disclosed.