Star Entertainment signs $300m lifeline deal with US gaming giant Bally’s

The report concedes that some improvements have been made since 2022, including a greater level of transparency and cooperation. However, the NICC said the report underscores concerns that it was not receiving all the facts from The Star at a time when it needed certainty the company could fund and prioritise an urgent business turnaround. The ethereum casino live dealer group had already requested a trading halt on Friday after Adam Bell SC’s latest damning report covering its operations was published on the same day by the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC). The Sydney-based exchange issued the announcement on Monday morning after Star failed to publish its annual financial report by last Friday’s (31 August) due date.
It has been seeking a rescue package to stay afloat but until now has been unsuccessful, with the group most recently failing to secure $940 million from property development fund Salter Brothers Capital. United Workers Union welcomed the deal for the 9,000 employees across the group who could have been left high and dry if it collapsed. The Motley Fool stands behind our products and our membership-fee-back guarantee. If for any reason you are not 100% satisfied with your premium subscription, simply notify us within the first 30 days and you won’t pay a cent.
A second inquiry last year uncovered several additional license breaches, including falsifying records. The casino has been overseen by a government-appointed manager since the 2022 report. More than 8000 jobs are on the line, with the company running out of time and money to keep its casinos open. Star acknowledged via the ASX that its shares had been automatically suspended but did not update the market on the status of financing offers it expected to receive on Friday. Bell’s original report outlined anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings at The Star Sydney stretching back years. A year later, a report into Star Sydney’s progress found the BK9 casino influencer marketing plan 2026 had implemented 22 of 30 recommended measures from the Bell report.
Star Entertainment has managed to avoid financial collapse for now after signing a deal to sell its stake in Brisbane’s Queen’s Wharf bay 101 casino review to its two equity partners along with other assets. Star Entertainment halted trading of its shares on Friday after a state-level casino regulator issued a damning report accusing the group of failing to clean up a culture of money laundering and fraud. Australia’s largest publicly traded casino operator has been temporarily suspended from the country’s stock exchange after failing to lodge its annual financial results. Star chief executive Steve McCann has been negotiating to lock in a different package which would leave the company’s Queen’s Wharf complex in Brisbane with two Hong Kong investors. That deal is backed by alternative asset manager Salter Brothers and includes a $750 million refinancing.
Star Entertainment was suspended from trading by the ASX on Monday over its failure to lodge financial statements for the December half-year. Star Entertainment Group was delisted from the top Australian online casino free bonus Securities Exchange on Monday as the group faces scrutiny over a series of scandals related to criminal activity and unethical conduct at its casinos. “Any deal that promises to keep venues in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney operating as a going concern is a good result for the Star workers, their families and the communities they live in,” the union’s casino director Andrew Jones said. “We’re always looking at everything within the best interest of the staff certainly our shareholders,” Daniel Finch, CEO The Star Brisbane, said 7NEWS on Monday.
Star’s lawyers told the Federal Court last month that a fine of more than $100 million could trigger the group’s financial collapse. “The Star is continuing to engage with the joint venture partners and will provide an update if there are any material developments regarding the parties’ respective interests,” it said. Star offered a glimmer of hope when it indicated that negotiations were continuing even though its joint venture partners had declined to extend the deal deadline to next week. The deal will give the company breathing room to find the funding needed to survive a massive cash crunch after Star lost the support of both its investors and lenders. The Far East Consortium said on Friday that it and Chow Tai Fook Enterprises will now take full control of the facility after paying $53 million for Star’s 50 per cent share. Star will also receive $5 million a month to run the Uptown Pokies Casino live dealer, rising to $6 million a month as of next year. The group has been on the brink of collapse for months but staved off administrators by offloading its 50 per cent stake in a new Brisbane precinct and a $250 million short-term bridging loan.
The European Central Bank has cut interest rates as expected on Thursday and kept the door ajar to more, even as a looming trade war with the US and plans to boost military spending drive Europe’s biggest economic policy upheaval in decades. Tony Sycamore from IG has circulated a note that highlights how dire the price action has been on the stock market in recent weeks. ABS head of business statistics Robert Ewing said that while spending on goods pushed up overall spending in late 2024, a 1.5 per cent rise for services drove the January growth. The executive order creates a US digital asset stockpile but the US will not sell any Bitcoin deposited into the reserve.
Shares are currently swapping hands at 25.5 cents per share, a far cry from the $4 per share range Star fetched pre-pandemic. Grattan’s modelling shows that Australians who draw down their super at the minimum rate when they retire will leave the equivalent of 65 per cent of their original super balance unspent by the age of 92. The report you reference is from the Grattan Institute, which highlights that many retirees are net savers, with their super balances growing for decades after they retire, for fear of outliving their savings.
Any closure would also severely affect neighbouring businesses, including cafes and hairdressers that rely heavily on those drawn to, and staying at, the gaming precinct. Its shares plummeted by more than 15 per cent after the trading halt was lifted on Friday morning. Only a white knight can save the casino operator from becoming Australia’s biggest corporate collapse since Virgin Australia in 2020. Star’s recent financial results were delayed by liquidity concerns and crownplay instant withdrawals the company’s shares were suspended from the ASX. The company subsequently secured fresh funding, published its numbers and returned to trading in volatile style.