ASX suspends beleaguered Star Casino from trading

The ASX has suspended The Star Entertainment Group from trading after it failed to post its annual financial report by Friday, amid reports it is seeking new funding.

The market issued the announcement on Monday morning, after the casino group requested a trading halt on Friday following the NSW independent Casino Commission (NICC) handed down a final damning report into its Sydney operations.

Previously, the group had announced it would announce its results for full year for 2024 on Friday.

It’s currently unclear when the group will resume trading.

Star was also preparing to announce a $1.4bn write-down of its casino assets and a major cost-cutting program, the Australian Financial Review reported on Monday.

The refunding was being sought to help it trade through the next six months and retain its casino licence in Sydney.

The Star’s ailing Sydney operations were put into limbo following the release of the Bell 2 report last Friday, which lashed the management for only recently dealing with “challenges that should have been prioritised earlier”.

“However, the Bell Report underscores the NICC’s concerns that it was not receiving all of the facts from The Star at a time when we needed certainty the company could fund and prioritise an urgent business turnaround,” said NICC chief commissioner Philip Crawford.

“The NICC is responsible for regulating an industry that is highly vulnerable to criminal infiltration and we are tasked with setting regulatory standards that meet the community’s expectations.

“It was unclear whether The Star could feasibly operate under less supervision, when it was exhibiting past behaviours with its licence still suspended.”

Just last week, the company’s Star Grand Hotel and casino opened in Brisbane’s $3.6bn Queens Wharf precinct after eight years of construction.

The Star’s Queen’s Wharf casino is operating under the Queensland state government’s approved remediation plan and the oversight of a regulator.

In August last year, NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey threw the struggling Sydney operation a lifeline by allowing the casino to pay significantly reduced tax rates on poker machine duties.

In exchange it had to guarantee the jobs of more than 3000 workers over the next six years.

At the time Mr Mookhey said the casino would have gone under without the government intervention.