Star Entertainment: Casino operator’s shares plummet after trading halt, company on brink of collapse with ‘material uncertainty’ about future

Undoubtably the presence of Crown Sydney results in a concession of market share from Star. It is approximated that Star will concede 30% of its table revenue within three years and 60% of VIP share by fiscal 2028. Nonetheless, the new competitive environment will necessitate improvement in both players and expand the Sydney VIP and premium gaming markets. Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly.
A 2022 NSW inquiry found damning evidence of money laundering and counter-terrorism failings at the groups’ Sydney casino while a 2024 probe found more breaches. The casino group was once worth billions of dollars but has since been slapped with fines totalling more than $210 million and licence suspensions after money laundering allegations. The Star has been in a trading halt since the end of February after being unable to file its half-year financial report without a refinancing plan to save it. Owned by American financier Soo Kim, a self-described corporate fireman, Bally’s specializes in rescuing casinos from financial distress and turning them profitable. The group’s board will now seek for all shareholders to agree unanimously to the deal as it is within their best interests and will unlock the remaining Bally’s contribution, the ASX statement said. Star is exploring a possible injection of $100 million by its largest shareholder Bruce Mathieson and if this occurs, Bally’s contribution would drop to $200 million.
Star Entertainment was suspended from trading by the ASX on Monday over its failure to lodge financial statements for the December half-year. Star Entertainment Group was delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange on Monday as the group faces scrutiny over a series of scandals related to criminal activity and unethical conduct at its casinos. “Any deal that promises to keep venues in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney operating as a going concern is a good result for the Star workers, their families and the communities they live in,” the union’s free casino online play director Andrew Jones said. “We’re always looking at everything within the best interest of the staff certainly our shareholders,” Daniel Finch, CEO The Star Brisbane, said 7NEWS on Monday.
Copyright © 2025 FactSet Research Systems Inc.Copyright © 2025, PlayCroco roulette American Bankers Association. “They’re not highly paid people — they’re struggling with the cost of living as everyone else is and they can’t afford to take a pay cut.” The union was not aware of any requests for staff to take pay cuts or give up benefits to help keep the business afloat.
Mr Ewing said the fall comes after households took advantage of PayID promotional offers activity like Black Friday sales, which drove strong goods spending at the end of 2024. But nominal household spending slowed sharply to 2.9 per cent over the year to January, the slowest rate since September 24. Household spending rose 0.4 per cent in January, driven by Aussies spending more on areas including doctors visits and travel. The reserve will be funded with Bitcoin owned by the federal government, obtained through criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. “But the further down the horizon we look, the more opaque the outlook becomes, and stock markets are also looking more cautious as the broader impact of tariffs takes shape.”
The refunding was being sought to help it trade through the next six months and retain its top crypto casino slots for high rollers licence in Sydney. Embattled casino operator Star Entertainment says it has been unable to reach a deal with Hong Kong investors to buy its stake in Brisbane’s Queen’s Wharf development. Australians are paying $9.2 million in interest charges per day on a collective credit card debt of $18.02 billion, at the average interest rate of 18.71 per cent. In a quarterly update to investors on Monday, ASX-listed Star said its revenue had fallen 15 per cent in the December quarter, citing ongoing weakness in its operating performance. It pointed to a “challenging” consumer environment, the impact of carded play in NSW, and expenses caused by a series of regulatory and compliance problems. Coincidentally, another significant shareholder in E-Commerce is PAG – a major Asian investment company that is the largest shareholder in troubled Australian airline Rex.
The fact that it hasn’t suggests the board and its advisers are engaged in the same hunting expedition as everyone else – attempting to dig out details on this new mysterious investor Northern Territory jackpot payouts who is now Star’s second-largest shareholder. In an update posted to the ASX on Monday night, Star has confirmed it has agreed to a $300 million rescue package with American Avantgarde casino instant play and gaming group, Bally’s. Star — which owns casinos in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney and employs more than 9,000 people — has warned for months it could fall into administration if a financier was not found.
He said he would not like to see the company go into liquidation “for the people’s sake”. “To me, it has been a disaster dealing with the management of Star and I think … there is no doubt the board should be blamed for how bad it is,” he told ABC Radio Brisbane. “What we would want to see is the government work to make that process as quick as possible, while still ensuring that any new operator is compliant with the regulations and the legislation.” He said the government would also need to move quickly to approve a new operator should there be a sale. Mr Jones said in the event Star did go into administration the union would want the state governments to work quickly with the administrator and existing lenders to ensure the administration was funded and the doors stayed open.
Apart from the higher regulatory costs following a run of scandals, Star’s fortunes have also been hurt by poor gaming turnover at its casinos and the move to cashless gaming in NSW, with Queensland to follow. Star also told investors it had received overtures from its Chinese partners – Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Limited and Far East Consortium International Limited – to pick up a 50 per cent stake in the company’s Queen’s Wharf casino in Brisbane. A $2.2bn non-cash impairment was reported for Sydney, Gold Coast and Treasury Brisbane goodwill and property assets. There were also regulatory and legal costs of $595m, debt restructuring costs of $54m and redundancy costs of $16m.