{"id":28820,"date":"2022-04-08T09:23:35","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T12:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=28820"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:46:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T12:46:05","slug":"star-sydney-public-hearings-extended-to-august-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/star-sydney-public-hearings-extended-to-august-31","title":{"rendered":"Star Sydney public hearings extended to August 31"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The New South Wales Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority has approved Adam Bell SC’s request for an extension of the inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- The public hearings on The Star Sydney<\/strong> will continue until August 31 after the New South Wales regulator, the ILGA, approved Adam Bell SC’s request for an extension. Bell was originally due to share\u00a0his inquiry’s results<\/a> by June.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the regulator, Bell asked for more time “to undertake further lines of inquiry to fully discharge his duties according to the Terms of Reference.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The review will define if The Star is suitable to continue holding a casino licence in Sydney<\/strong>. It will also examine the presence and detection of illegal and unwanted activities and individuals in the casino and the management and operation of The Star’s bank accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ILGA chair Philip Crawford said: \u201cThe Authority is fully supportive of Mr Bell examining additional witnesses and giving further consideration to a number of key issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday,\u00a0Oliver White, Star Entertainment\u2019s in-house lawyer<\/strong>\u00a0was questioned about the\u00a0legality of Star Entertainment accepting China UnionPay cards<\/a>. White told the inquiry that he knew that China UnionPay cards could not be used for gambling purposes. However, he said he believed it was legal to use the hotel\u2019s point of sale machines to swipe the cards. Once the funds were cleared, they were diverted to gaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White admitted he knew the funds were ultimately used for gambling<\/strong> but said he believed the Chinese firm\u2019s ban was \u201cnot applicable\u201d because of the two-stage process used in charging them. He said he did not recall talking to anyone from the National Australia Bank, China UnionPay\u2019s representative in the country, about how the cards were used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam Bell SC\u00a0then asked White: \u201cDid you feel at the time that there was a culture where business goals took priority over compliance goals?\u201d, and he answered: \u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve reflected on, and I feel that was the case from time to time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New South Wales Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority has approved Adam Bell SC’s request for an extension of the inquiry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":21504,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The New South Wales Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority has extended the inquiry into The Star Sydney until August 31, following a request from Adam Bell SC for further investigation. This review will determine The Star's suitability to retain its casino license, focusing on the detection of illicit activities, bank account management, and the controversial use of China UnionPay cards for gambling purposes. An in-house lawyer admitted knowledge of the card's ultimate use for gambling, despite a ban, citing a two-stage process.","focusai_entities":"New South Wales Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority, ILGA, Adam Bell SC, The Star Sydney, Star Entertainment, Oliver White, China UnionPay, National Australia Bank, Philip Crawford","focusai_location":"Australia, New South Wales, Sydney","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"License Revocation Impact?","query":"What are the projected financial and operational implications for Star Entertainment Group if The Star Sydney's casino license is revoked or significantly restricted?"},{"label":"AML Protocol Failures?","query":"How did The Star Sydney's internal controls and AML protocols fail to prevent the systematic misuse of China UnionPay cards for gambling, and what systemic changes are being mandated?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,156,158],"tags":[23911,23871],"class_list":["post-28820","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\/28820","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=28820"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28825,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28820\/revisions\/28825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}