The Star suspends all domestic and international rebate play programmes

The announcement comes amid the New South Wales regulator ILGA’s inquiry into Star’s Sydney casino.

Australia.- The Star Entertainment Group has recently announced that its board has resolved to immediately suspend rebate programmes for both domestic and international players across all its casinos until further notice. The company said it will work with gaming regulators to address various identified risks as part of ongoing reviews of systems and processes. 

The Star has hired external advisors and continues a programme of work to further those systems and processes while cooperating fully with the review.  

The company also reconfirmed a commitment it made in October 2020 not to deal with junket operators. It said the suspension of rebate programmes is not expected to have any material impact on earnings for the fiscal year 2022 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Last Friday (May 6), The Star Entertainment Group accepted the resignations of three more executives: chief financial officer Harry Theodore, chief casino officer (NSW) Greg Hawkins and chief legal and risk officer and company secretary Paula Martin. The company has announced Christina Katsibouba will assume as a temporary interim chief financial officer while Geoff Hogg will be interim chief casino officer NSW & Qld.

In late March, Matt Bekier stepped down as managing director and CEO of The Star Entertainment Group. Speaking to the inquiry last month, he said he was disappointed by the Sydney casino’s management and blamed the failure of the international VIP business on the venue’s “subculture”.