‘The fire is out’: Star casino’s future in doubt after huge money laundering fine
In brief
- Star Entertainment was fined $260 million over historical money laundering failures.
- The penalty leaves Australia’s biggest listed casino operator facing an uncertain future.
Australia’s biggest listed casino company is on the brink of administration after being fined $260 million for historical money-laundering violations.
The Star Entertainment Group was fined in the Federal Court on Wednesday, four years after financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC launched legal action against the company.
The agency previously argued a $400 million penalty was necessary to punish what it said were “manifest failures” at Star.
But the stockmarket-listed company, which has a market value of $763 million, argued any penalty over $100 million would send it into liquidation.
Justice Cameron Moore determined a $260 million penalty was appropriate for the significant harm Star’s conduct has caused.
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
“In effect, Star put profit ahead of compliance,” the judge said.
Star will have 19 months to pay the fine in four equal instalments.
Shares in the casino giant closed at 13 cents on Tuesday.
It is in a trading halt for up to two days to give management time to publicly address the fine’s impact on the business.
The court previously heard that one man was allowed, alongside many other high-risk gamblers, to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars through the casinos, despite his known criminal links.
These concerns fell on deaf ears of senior management, who failed to impose adequate anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism-financing controls, it heard.
Star, which owns casinos in Sydney and the Gold Coast and operates one in Brisbane, has been dealing with a raft of scandals and license suspensions involving years of money laundering, organised crime infiltration and governance failures.
US gaming giant Bally’s Corp saved the business from administration in April 2025, allowing its chair, Soo Kim, to step up to the same position at Star.
Speaking at the group’s annual general meeting on Tuesday, Kim predicted that the “fire is out”.
“I didn’t come here to say ‘mission accomplished’,” Kim said.
“I came here to say, the fire is out, and now the rebuilding starts.”
The vast majority of customers weren’t involved in malfeasance or unwanted behaviour, and the company should welcome them, Kim added.
Star’s ex-head Matthias Beikir was fined $700,000 in June for failing to inform the company’s board of suspicious conduct committed by Chinese junket operator Suncity in 2018 and 2019.
In the same month, Star Sydney was hit with $10 million in fines for regulatory breaches, including exceeding gaming time limits and failing to properly vet patrons for links to criminal and terrorist activity.
For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.
