The Star Sydney fined US$7.2m over historic regulatory breaches
The NSW Independent Casino Commission has imposed multiple penalties on the casino for historical regulatory failures.
Australia.- The Star Sydney has been fined AU$10m (US$7.2m) by the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) over a series of historical compliance breaches related to financial crime risk management, gambling harm prevention and regulatory oversight. The sanctions also require the casino to allocate AU$5m (US$3.6m) to strengthen technology and systems for financial crime risk management operations.
According to the regulator, the penalties stem from four separate disciplinary matters investigated by Liquor & Gaming NSW and referred to the NICC for enforcement action. The largest fine of AU$5m was imposed for systemic failures in financial crime risk controls between July 2023 and September 2025. The regulator found that the casino did not take sufficient steps to ensure customers were not involved in criminal activities such as money laundering or terrorism financing.
A further AU$3m (US$2.1m) penalty was issued because The Star Sydney allowed at least 1,898 patrons to convert casino reward points into cash or use them for expenses such as travel between December 2018 and November 2023. The casino was also fined AU$1.5m (US$1m) for allowing customers to exceed legal gambling time limits between May 2024 and April 2025. In some cases, bettors were able to gamble continuously for more than 36 hours despite regulations limiting gambling activity to a maximum of 12 within any 24-hour period.
An additional AU$500,000 (US$360,000) fine was imposed after the casino failed to prevent an excluded patron from entering the venue on nine occasions between February and May 2024.
NICC Chief Commissioner Philip Crawford described the breaches as disappointing but acknowledged that progress had made under the current leadership.
“We have seen considerable progress at The Star under their new leadership,” Crawford said. “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.”
The Star CEO and Managing Director Bruce Mathieson Jr. said the company accepts its regulatory responsibilities and noted that the incidents occurred before the current management team took over.
