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August 31, 2026 \u2014 11:06am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Star Entertainment reported a $307 million loss for 2026, including asset writedowns, as its auditors reiterated their significant doubts about the group\u2019s survival prospects. The loss follows reports from this masthead<\/a> highlighting the group\u2019s struggles with the reforms needed to win back its casino licences.<\/p>\n Star\u2019s chief executive, the pokies billionaire Bruce Mathieson Jnr, acknowledged challenges for the group, which should soon hear the outcomes of a fine for repeated money-laundering breaches and, separately, its suitability to hold the licences to the casinos it operates.<\/p>\n \u201cReturning to suitability remains critical to our future, and the work required to achieve that objective has and is being increasingly embedded in how we operate every day,\u201d Mathieson told investors via the annual report. \u201cWe have made significant progress against our remediation commitments, which supported The Star\u2019s submissions to the Queensland and New South Wales governments on its suitability to hold casino licences in those jurisdictions, and we await the outcomes of those processes.\u201d<\/p>\n Star has been embroiled in a spiralling financial crisis since a high-powered inquiry into the casino operator in 2022, following allegations that the company had enabled suspected money laundering and organised crime in its casinos. Gambling revenue has fallen, and regulatory costs have mounted following the run of scandals<\/a> \u2013 which led to the loss of all three casino licences.<\/p>\n Recent reports in this masthead have raised questions about Star\u2019s commitment to reforms to help it regain its casino licence, as its top executives try to make the casino operator financially viable under new regulatory restraints in NSW and Queensland.<\/p>\n Related Article A leaked recording<\/a> of Star Entertainment Group\u2019s most senior executives has captured its Sydney casino boss and Mathieson Jnr complaining of the risk and compliance measures forced onto the group.<\/p>\n \u201cWe get these fines, which I think are just disproportionate to what is happening, and \u2026 all we\u2019re doing is existing to pay a fine,\u201d Mathieson Jnr said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe keep on restricting ourselves tighter and tighter. We\u2019re coming to a pretty critical time with obviously licences and all that sort of stuff, but it should be quite obvious to everyone that unless we can breathe \u2026 every time we get up to breathe, we cop another hit.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to the weekend\u2019s revelations, NSW casino regulator Philip Crawford ordered Nick Weeks to conduct an urgent review.<\/p>\n He said that Weeks had last week provided him a report detailing governance issues as he weighed up whether to return Star its gaming licence in Sydney.<\/p>\n \u201cThe NICC\u2019s concern has always been to ensure NSW casinos uphold community expectations by maintaining responsible and compliant operations which are resistant to criminal infiltration and equipped to minimise gambling harms,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cHowever, the NICC has requested a supplementary report from the manager to outline any additional matters arising from the article that are relevant to The Star\u2019s NSW operations.\u201d<\/p>\n These issues are separate to the auditors\u2019 issues with Star, which rest on whether the group is capable of paying the impending fine from the financial crimes watchdog, Austrac.<\/p>\n Star argued that a fine of more than $100 million may be beyond its financial means<\/a>. Austrac argued that a fine of about $400 million was commensurate with Star\u2019s wrongdoing. A court judgment on the fine could be handed down in September.<\/p>\n Star\u2019s auditors signalled the material uncertainty on its ability to pay its bills as they fall due over the next year, \u201cincluding in respect of the AUSTRAC proceeding, where the group is reliant on the judgment of the court as to quantum and timing being within the groups\u2019 capacity to pay, given its existing liquidity and ability to access any additional funding required\u201d.<\/p>\n Star chairman Soo Kim, who is chair of casino operator Bally\u2019s \u2013 which injected hundreds of millions of dollars along with the Mathieson family to help save Star \u2013 acknowledged the tough task they still faced.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we are no strangers to casino turnarounds, The Star is one of the most complex challenges we have encountered,\u201d he said in the chairman\u2019s message to investors in the annual report today.<\/p>\n The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day\u2019s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/9cca9053e3d2c5757a6a1e49a38e43257951cc232e7f90ae8097797ae5d45d28.jpeg\")
A leak of confidential documents has raised fresh concerns about the conduct of the embattled casino company run by pokies billionaire Bruce Mathieson Jnr.Monique Westerman<\/p>\n![\"Bruce](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/d6681638f8cd6afd252b65cc421386cac9e01119.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Star](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/47b1f6c8d79c94b170abc015e5fee10189114ae0.jpeg\")
Star Entertainment chairman Soo Kim.Dominic Lorrimer<\/p>\n![\"Colin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1788148586_42_0ec7187b93286dfb0f0abbff3fe1e9df3e81e2d6.png\")
Colin Kruger<\/a> is a senior business reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 31, 2026 \u2014 11:06am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-874576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}