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The Star Sydney has been fined $10m for letting gamblers sit playing for 36 hours straight, allowing banned punters back onto the gaming floor and converting casino reward points to cash.
The NSW Independent Casino Commission issued the fine on Monday and ordered the casino to set aside $5m to beef-up potential money laundering and terrorism funding monitoring.
“While these disciplinary matters are disappointing, we have seen considerable progress at The Star under their new leadership,” NICC chief commissioner Philip Crawford said.
“Imposing these fines along with the enforceable undertaking reiterates the seriousness with which the NICC considers any breaches that leave customers vulnerable to gambling harm or casinos vulnerable to criminal infiltration.”
The independent commission grouped rule violations at the casino into four groups, encompassing thousands of incidents. The Star management self-reported some of the incidents on the back of its own ongoing overhaul.
The casino operator has been fined $3m for converting casino reward points into cash at least 1898 times over a five-year period to November 2023.
Nine times in 2024 the casino allowed an excluded patron to come back into the casino, which has resulted in a $500,000 fine.
For letting people play longer than the laws allow in 2024 and 2025, the casino has been fined $1.5m. In many of these breaches, people gambled for more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period, and sometimes people sat gambling for more than 36 hours, the commission said.
For “systemic failures” in financial crime risk monitoring, the operator will pay $5m and has been ordered to set aside $5m to upgrade detection technology.
“In some instances, the casino was found to have failed to properly assess a customer’s risk of being involved with criminal activity, including money laundering and terrorism financing,” Mr Crawford said.
The $5m enforceable undertaking is the first time the commission has used such powers.
“While we are optimistic about The Star’s remediation progress, the casino’s recent poor compliance history has also factored into the commission’s decision,” Mr Crawford said.
The NSW Independent Casino Commission is separate to Liquor and Gaming NSW, and the commission received evidence and referrals from the government department.
Liquor and Gaming regulation director Dimitri Argeres said the agency “undertook extensive investigations into a large number of noncompliance issues at The Star”.
In 2025, Star Entertainment shareholders accepted a $300m takeover bid from US gaming giant Bally’s Corporation and Australian publican Bruce Mathieson. The two entities took a majority stake in the company.
Star has been contacted for comment about Monday’s fines.
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