Rampart reported that the NSW Independent Casino Commission was pleased with The Star’s genuine remediation efforts and believed the company was moving in the right direction towards suitability. The report said 570 steps in the remediation plan still had to be completed.
It also said Philip Crawford would be asked again to weigh in on the company in about two months. Queensland would likely review The Star shortly after that, provided progress was not derailed. The piece added that earlier tensions had involved attempts to remove Nick Weeks, the regulator’s appointed manager, under former chief executive Robbie Cooke and then chairman David Forster.
The NSW commission had already put The Star under formal scrutiny in 2024. It issued the company a show cause notice on 13 September 2024 under section 23(2) of the Casino Control Act 1992, then, after considering The Star’s response, notified it on 17 October that it had contravened the Act and its casino licence.
The same notice imposed a $15 million pecuniary penalty. Payment was split into three $5 million instalments due by 31 December 2024, 31 March 2025 and 30 June 2025, with payment suspended until those dates.
The notice also said The Star’s licence would remain suspended and Nick Weeks would continue to oversee the business until at least 31 March 2025, when suitability would be reassessed. The commission’s release said the second Bell inquiry had found continuing compliance failures and operations that fell far short of suitability.
It also said Steve McCann had established open lines of communication and cooperation with the commission, leading to a healthier relationship, and that steps taken since his appointment had been encouraging. Even so, the release said more work was needed before The Star could be regarded as a compliant and responsible operator deserving of a licence.
The NSW inquiry’s volume 2, published on 31 July 2024, placed that process in a broader history of supervision. It said Weeks was appointed manager on 17 October 2022, first for three months and then for a further 12 months, and that The Star initially appeared cooperative and engaged constructively.
That changed by late November 2023, when Weeks said the company’s approach to regulatory engagement had deteriorated, with increasing instances of a lack of transparency, candour and rigour. The inquiry also recorded April 2023 text messages between Forster and Cooke, including the line 'Abolish NICC’, which it accepted was a call for wider regulatory reform rather than an end to casino regulation.
Queensland had its own review in 2022. The state government said it instigated the review in June that year, that Robert Gotterson AO KC made 12 recommendations, and that Shannon Fentiman had formed the view that The Star was unsuitable to hold a licence in Queensland. The government said a show cause process would follow any formal unsuitability determination.
