A leaked recording from a management meeting captured senior Star Entertainment executives complaining about risk and compliance measures as it tries to keep casino licences in New South Wales and Queensland. The discussion centred on how far the group should go in meeting controls imposed by regulators.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Star Sydney boss John Koster told compliance managers they were doing more than was necessary to win back the licence, while Bruce Mathieson jnr said the group needed further “relief” from regulators to survive. He also said the misconduct fines were “disproportionate to what is happening”.
Koster urged management to stop doing “unnecessary garbage” and not add steps beyond internal control manual requirements unless they were required by regulators. The transcript also records him discussing KPI bonuses linked to whether prevention-of-play notices were executed, describing POP as a temporary ban and saying the financial crime team should start the process with the highest-value customer first. He said source-of-wealth checks were taking far too long and should take days rather than weeks. The meeting also included a complaint that monitoring Centrelink-card holders and their daily spending had created a major backlog in transaction monitoring and had not found many fraud causes.
Star’s precincts in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney were described in the transcript as operating under strict internal control manuals, and much of the meeting focused on transaction monitoring. As reported on Aug. 29, leaked Star files had already suggested sharp cuts to problem-gambling work and broader compliance strain.
In response to the revelations, NSW casino regulator Philip Crawford ordered Nick Weeks to conduct an urgent review and provide a supplementary report on any additional matters relevant to Star’s NSW operations. Crawford said the commission’s concern was to ensure casinos upheld community expectations by remaining responsible, compliant and resistant to criminal infiltration while minimising gambling harm.
The NSW government extended Weeks’s appointment until 30 September 2026 at the NICC’s request, as the commission said it was working closely with Star’s new leadership on what the casino needed to do to be found suitable.
