REPORTS NEW SOUTH WALES
Te Star Sydney is home to the 600 room Darling luxury Forbes 5-Star rated hotel and features the $100m Star Event Centre, the Sydney Lyric which was opened in 1997 and a 2,000 seater
theatre. Te Star also has restaurants and bars and the casino has over 200 table games and 1,500 slots. Star Sydney Casino
THE CASINOS
Tere are now two casinos open in NSW following the recent opening of the Crown Sydney which joins the Star Sydney which opened back in 1995.
Te Star Sydney Casino is operated by Te Star Entertainment Group which also operates two other Queensland casinos, Te Star Gold Coast and the Treasury Brisbane, whilst the company also operates the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Te Star Sydney is home to the 600 room Darling luxury Forbes 5-Star rated hotel and features the $100m Star Event Centre, the Sydney Lyric which was opened in 1997 and a 2,000 seater theatre. Te Star also has restaurants and bars and the casino has over 200 table games and 1,500 slots.
In 2020 the NSW government introduced the Pyrmont Peninsula Place Strategy to provide a 20 year plan to encourage intensive development on the Pyrmont Peninsula, west of Sydney’s CBD.
Part of this plan recently approved a controversial 105 metre high six star hotel, a new theatre and a rooftop dining and event space at the Star Casino. Other plans include development of a Pyrmont Metro station and Indigenous residential college at the University of Technology.
Plans to redevelop the Pyrmont area began in 2019 when the state refused Te Star’s earlier $530m proposal for a 66-storey casino tower. Many residents have objected to the current tower plans due to concerns over the building height.
Te Star says the new entertainment venues will bring in visitors and help with recovery after Covid whilst the development aims to create 23,000 new jobs and 4,000 new homes in the area over the next 20 years.
However, in October the Star’s licence to operate the Sydney casino was suspended indefinitely and the group was fined the maximum penalty of $100m after an inquiry into the casino operations
found allegations of money laundering, fraud and criminal activity.
A new manager, Nicholas Weeks has been installed to oversee the continued running and ‘clean up’ the casino, until it can be determined whether Te Star can rectify its “wrongdoings” and prove it is fit to hold a licence.
Te findings were exposed via the Bell Review, which began in October 2021 after the ILGA called for an inquiry into the casino. Te report was presented in August 2022 and the NSW Independent Casino Commission headed by Chief Commissioner Philip Crawford was appointed as regulator of casinos in NSW. Te commission will now look at the Star’s longer term future.
Te decision to keep the casino open related to the 8,000 employees who would have lost their jobs had the casino closed down whilst the casino sees around 18 million guests annually.
Tere is concern now for the Star group and its lenders and some 75,000 shareholders. Around 30 managers and board members have left the casino and a new Chief Executive, Robert Cook, took over in mid October.
Te Star Sydney is the group’s highest earning casino with a GGR last year (year ending June 2022) of $781m. Covid closures which ran from July to October 2021 had a significant impact. In 2021 the GGR was $828.2m – down 29 per cent on the previous year.
Meanwhile, NSW’s second casino, the Crown Sydney, reopened its door in August less than two years after it was also deemed unfit to hold a gaming licence.
Te VIP only casino has 220 tables across the Crystal Room and 30 private salons on the Mahogany floor. Te Star Sydney managed to retain exclusive rights to offer slots in the casino market alongside a new 20 year flat tax structure from July 2021.
Tthe Star’s licence to operate the Sydney casino was suspended indefinitely and the group was fined the maximum penalty of $100m after an inquiry into the casino operations found
allegations of money laundering, fraud and criminal activity. Star Sydney Casino
P30 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS
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