The interim boss of Star Entertainment is not aware whether the Australian gambling giant was paying any monetary penalties for its violations of Queensland’s state gambling legislation over the last 5 years.
Geoff Hogg, who is the interim CEO of the casino company, admitted that Star Entertainment has been responsible for several “minor breaches” of the state’s gambling laws since 2017. He explained that the majority of these violations have been incidents, such as a staff error on tables or a patron exclusion.
Mr Hogg shared that he was unable to recall whether Star Entertainment paid any fines for the violations or was prosecuted by the Queensland Government for any of the breaches.
While taking part in a parliamentary inquiry at the beginning of the week, he explained that the gambling operator had been primarily focused on remediation steps associated with the violations. At the time, he confirmed that he was not aware of any fines that had been paid by the company in the process.
The aforementioned probe is aimed at carefully checking the proposed casino laws that would impose stricter measures on operators, forcing them to be more proactive in self-reporting legal breaches. The new gambling legislation would also expand the Government’s power to gather information about casino companies and allow it to impose fines of up to AU$50 million in case any violations of the legislation occur.
Star Entertainment Dealing with Investigation into Its Suitability to Keep Queensland Licence
The proposed gambling legislation could be passed before the Brisbane-based Queen’s Wharf venue, worth AU$3.6 billion, starts operation in 2023. Star Brisbane, a subsidiary of Star Entertainment, is set to operate the casino’s development.
As revealed by Mr Hogg, the Queensland Government approached Star Entertainment about the proposed laws and asked the company for an opinion on the changes before the proposed measures were officially tabled in Parliament. The gambling operator’s CEO also noted that Star Entertainment did not make any comments regarding the new fines and their size. Mr Hogg also shared that the Australian gambling giant had not seen the bill itself at that stage, but the company had still provided support and feedback to most of the proposed changes.
Star Entertainment’s interim CEO also shared an assumption that the Queensland Government would have consulted all casino companies in the state about the piece of gambling legislation. He confirmed that his company was currently working to make its anti-money laundering policies better, although the concerns raised in the New South Wales (NSW) probe into the company had not occurred in Queensland.
Mr Hogg explained that over the last 3 or 4 years, Star Entertainment had been focused on improving its policies after realising there had been some gaps in what it had been doing. The gambling giant currently remains committed to addressing the mistakes it had done over the last 4 years and fixing them. He acknowledged that the anti-money laundering controls of the casino company had to be consistent in all Australian states and territories where it runs its services, so any changes in the NSW would have to be made in Queensland, too.
As Casino Guardian previously reported, the inquiry comes right before the start of a special probe into the suitability of Star Entertainment to hold a casino operating permit in Queensland. The gambling company’s high-roller management, anti-money laundering protections and the use of China UnionPay bank cards (CUP) at the company are to be investigated by former justice Robert Gotterson.
- Author
Olivia Cole
