Star Entertainment Group

The Star Entertainment Group Limited
Company type	Public
Traded as	ASX: SGR
Industry	Gambling, Tourism
Founded	2011; 13 years ago
Headquarters	Brisbane, Australia
Area served	Australia
Key people	Ben Heap (Chairman) ; Robbie Cook (CEO)
Revenue	A$2.3 billion[citation needed]
Number of employees	8,000[citation needed]
Divisions	The Star, Sydney; The Star Gold Coast; Treasury Casino; Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre;
Website	StarEntertainmentGroup.com.au

The Star Entertainment Group Limited is an Australian gambling and entertainment company.^[1] The company was formerly known as Echo Entertainment.^[2]

Properties

The Star Entertainment owns and operates the Treasury Casino & Hotel,^[3] The Star Gold Coast and The Star, Sydney.^[4] Star Entertainment holds three out of Queensland's five casino operation licenses.^[5]

The group also manages the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre on behalf of the Queensland Government.^[6] Star owned a 50% stake in the Sheraton Mirage resort on the Southport Spit,^[7] that it sold in 2023 for $192 million.^[8]

The Star, Sydney
Queen's Wharf, Brisbane (under construction)
Treasury Casino, Brisbane
The Star, Gold Coast

Queen's Wharf Brisbane

The Queensland Government announced on 20 July 2015 that Echo Entertainment as 50% joint venture partner of the Destination Brisbane Consortium was the preferred tenderer for Queen's Wharf, Brisbane, beating rival Crown Resorts. Echo has two Hong-Kong based joint venture partners Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium. The two joint venture partners will each contribute 25% of the capital to develop the integrated resort and will also jointly pay for the apartment and broader Queen's Wharf developments.

Controversy

In 2021 a joint report by the Sydney Morning Herald the Age, and the television program 60 Minutes, found that Star management had been warned that its anti-money laundering controls were inadequate and that between 2014 and 2021 Star had attempted to recruit high rollers who were allegedly linked to criminal or foreign-influence activities. In response to the report Star stated that it was " "concerned by a number of assertions within the media reports that it considers misleading." And also stated that it would take steps to address the allegations with Australian authorities.^[9]^[10] Following the report shareholders began forming a class action lawsuit against Star and inquiries were launched by Queensland's, Western Australia's, Victoria's, and New South Wales's state gaming regulators.^[11]^[12]

On 13 September 2022 the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) published a report finding The Star unsuitable to hold its Sydney casino license because of its conduct relating to money laundering risks. It had 14 days to respond.^[13] The company was fined A$100m ($62m) as a result.^[14] Star's gambling license was suspended and operations were placed under a new manager Nicholas Weeks.^[15]

In late 2022, the Queensland Government also found Star unsuitable to hold its dual state casino licences.^[16] Former Court of Appeal Judge Robert Gotterson conducted an independent review of the matter.^[17] Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman found Star misled regulators and failed in its anti-money laundering duties.^[16] The company has been served a statement of claim for a securities class action in the Supreme Court of Victoria. The class action alleges ^[18] that Star breached disclosure obligations and acted against the best interests of the shareholders. Star was fined $100 million on 9 December 2022.^[19] Casino licences for the Treasury Brisbane and the Star Gold Coast will be suspended for 90 days, with this action deferred until December 1, 2023. The deferment gives Star an opportunity to remediate its management and operations.^[19]

In April 2024, the chair for The Star Star Entertainment Group Limited David Foster resigned from his post less than a week after giving evidence to the ongoing inquiry into the license suitability of the company's The Star Sydney property. Foster reportedly found his efforts increasingly frustrated by office politics and, in particular, the relationship between the company's Chief Executive Officer, Robbie Cooke, and the independent manager appointed to help implement an official state-mandated remediation plan, Nicholas Weeks.^[20] Foster's departure came after he told the official inquiry his company was currently unsuitable to operate a casino in New South Wales. There was ‘not a scenario’ in which it would be able to run the property unsupervised. He was additionally quizzed on Tuesday over a series of ‘heat of the moment’ texts with Cooke in which the pair allegedly discussed getting rid of Weeks by having shareholders launch a class-action lawsuit against the government-appointed manager.^[21]

Speculation of a potential takeover

In May 2024, it was reported that multiple suitors were looking to acquire the company.^[22] Hard Rock International was said to be weighing a bid,^[23] but they subsequently stated that they were not looking into acquiring Star Entertainment.^[24]