Regulatory breaches by one of the largest gaming and entertainment operators in Australia, Star Entertainment Group, tangled the group into prolonged scrutiny. In New South Wales and Queensland, the company was found unsuitable to hold a license, requiring it to make robust changes to its operations. On the path to regulatory compliance, Nicholas Weeks was appointed to the role of manager of The Star Sydney. He was also tasked with overseeing the operations of the Star’s The Star Gold Coast and Brisbane venues as special manager.
Now, during the first day of public hearings into The Star Sydney’s second inquiry for license suitability, worrying details were disclosed about practices uncovered by inspectors from Liquor & Gaming NSW, as announced by IAG. The deficiencies were related to the Star Sydney’s employees tasked with protecting the consumers from excessive gambling, something that is a part of the company’s commitment to adhering to responsible gambling regulations.
According to Weeks, Liquor & Gaming NSW inspectors uncovered a mismatch between the data records about interactions of the employees, known as Guest Support Officers, and recorded CCTV footage. Moreover, the inspectors said that the data from the documents supplied by the operator was also in contradiction with their observations about interactions conducted by the Guest Support Officers.
The aforementioned practice, described by Weeks as “falsification of records,” occurred often. What’s as equally as concerning is that a large part of the employees tasked with responsible gaming were involved in this malpractice, he added.
“It appeared to be occurring very often and that a large proportion of the team were involved in that conduct. It is very concerning in the current circumstances that there’s such a significant and widespread breach related to, based on the information delivered, a falsification of records,“
explained Nicholas Weeks
A Defect Resulted in Losses for Star
Another concern raised by Weeks involved an activity called “tico” fraud or “TI#O Fraud.” This fraudulent activity stemmed from defects in machines that enabled casino visitors to collect more money than they were due to collect. The defect enabled casino patrons who have put two tickets in a ticket-in, ticket-out machine to collect one of the tickets while cashing out the two initially.
The issue was present for approximately two months in mid-2023. Overall, this defect resulted in AU$3.2 million ($2.1 million) in losses for The Star before it was identified and resolved.
On that topic, Weeks said: “I was concerned about the cultural issues. I was also concerned about the control environment because balancing the books and counting money was one of those things that I’d anticipated the casino would be very good at, having done it for many years.” The manager also spoke about the slower-than-expected progress made by the company, saying that one of the reasons was the “absence of leadership” to help guide the employees and ensure they adhere with the compliance strategy.