{"id":28549,"date":"2022-03-30T09:20:41","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T12:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=28549"},"modified":"2026-04-23T10:03:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:03:46","slug":"nsw-must-reconsider-the-future-of-casinos-transport-minister-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/nsw-must-reconsider-the-future-of-casinos-transport-minister-says","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;NSW must reconsider the future of casinos&#8221;, transport minister says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Transport minister Rob Stokes has questioned the benefits of Sydney\u2019s casinos following The Star Casino\u2019s licence review amid accusations of wide-scale money laundering and criminal activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Australia.-\u00a0Transport minister <strong>Rob Stokes<\/strong>\u00a0told parliament last night that New South Wales must rethink the future of Sydney casinos after\u00a0its <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/star-deputy-treasurer-misled-national-australia-bank-inquiry-hears\" target=\"_blank\">inquiry into The Star Entertainment Group<\/a>. He questioned whether casinos benefited the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Stokes said: &#8220;Now is the best time to ask the question: are the illusory and ephemeral benefits of Sydney\u2019s casinos worth the proven harm \u2013 the deceit, the crime, the destroyed lives?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He added: Stokes added: &#8220;Revelations of tax evasion also completely undermine the argument that casino operations are justified based on the revenue they provide to support wider social and community benefits.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the ILGA public hearing into The Star Sydney\u00a0<strong>Paulinka Dudek<\/strong>, deputy treasurer of the Star Group admitted <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/star-deputy-treasurer-misled-national-australia-bank-inquiry-hears\" target=\"_blank\">she misled National Australia Bank<\/a>\u00a0about the use of a China UnionPay card at Star Entertainment venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The inquiry heard that&nbsp;<strong>around AU$900m was processed on the CUP cards<\/strong>&nbsp;before CUP terminals in Star venues were disabled in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, <strong>Paul McWilliams<\/strong>, former chief risk officer at the company, gave testimony about\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/star-ceo-questioned-kpmg-report-on-money-laundering-risk-inquiry-hears\" target=\"_blank\">a 2018 report by global audit firm KPMG<\/a>\u00a0and said Star CEO\u00a0<strong>Matt Bekier\u00a0<\/strong>had criticised the report. Bekier has since tendered his <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/matt-bekier-steps-down-as-star-entertainment-ceo-amid-ilga-inquiry\" target=\"_blank\">resignation as managing director and chief executive officer<\/a>\u00a0of the Star Entertainment Group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/the-star-entertainment-faces-class-action-from-shareholders\" target=\"_blank\">A class action lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0has been filed on behalf of investors in Star Entertainment Group amid the heavy public scrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The NSW government has been under pressure to reform the gambling industry following an investigation into Crown Resorts last year, which uncovered wrongdoing and money laundering when assessing Crown&#8217;s suitability for a licence in Barangaroo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile,\u00a0minister for hospitality and racing <strong>Kevin Anderson<\/strong>\u00a0has said that a new regulator will be established by the middle of this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said: &#8220;The independent, standalone casino regulator will enhance the management of existing and emerging risks in the current casino regulatory environment, particularly the risks of money laundering and other financial crimes associated with casino activities.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transport minister Rob Stokes has questioned the benefits of Sydney\u2019s casinos following The Star Casino\u2019s licence review amid accusations of wide-scale money laundering and criminal activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":26548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"New South Wales Transport Minister Rob Stokes has questioned the societal benefits of Sydney's casinos following an inquiry into The Star Entertainment Group, citing widespread money laundering, tax evasion, and criminal activity. Revelations include misleading National Australia Bank regarding China UnionPay card usage and a class-action lawsuit against Star, prompting the NSW government to establish a new independent casino regulator.","focusai_entities":"Rob Stokes, The Star Casino, The Star Entertainment Group, Paulinka Dudek, National Australia Bank, China UnionPay, Paul McWilliams, KPMG, Matt Bekier, Crown Resorts, ILGA, NSW government, Kevin Anderson","focusai_location":"Sydney, Australia, New South Wales, Barangaroo","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Star's License Future?","query":"What specific conditions or penalties is The Star Entertainment Group likely to face regarding its Sydney casino license, and what is the projected timeline for the new independent regulator's enforcement actions?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Impact?","query":"How will the establishment of a new independent casino regulator in New South Wales fundamentally alter the governance frameworks and compliance obligations for all licensed operators in the jurisdiction?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156,158],"tags":[23911,23871],"class_list":["post-28549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-the-star-entertainment-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28549"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28563,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28549\/revisions\/28563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}