Star Entertainment Served With Class Action Lawsuit in Victoria

Star Entertainment, one of the biggest owners and operators of land-based casinos in Australia, has announced that it has been served with a class action lawsuit in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

The company announcement also revealed that the action was filed by Phi Finney McDonald, a specialist litigation law firm based in Australia. The action alleges that between 2016 and 2022 the company “made misleading representations, including about its systems and processes for compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations”.

The lawsuit comes shortly after Star Entertainment was fined both by AUSTRAC, the country’s financial watchdog, and by the government of Queensland, Australia’s second-largest and third-most populous state.

Star Entertainment operates two casinos in Queensland, Treasury Brisbane and Star Gold Coast, and will continue to do so under supervision. The company was slapped with a similar penalty in New South Wales as its activities at Star Sydney have also been under investigation. The fines are worth 100 million Australian dollars each.

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The action filed by Phi Finney McDonald in Victoria also alleges that Star Entertainment “failed to disclose relevant information it had about those matters to the market, and conducted its affairs contrary to the interest of the members of The Star as a whole”. The lawsuit comes after similar class action suits were filed in March and November 2022.

This comes at a time of great difficulty for the company, who has to pay the fines mentioned previously but also has to operate under strict supervision as its casino licenses in Queensland and Sydney were suspended.

The company’s casinos are currently being managed by an independent appointee, giving Star Entertainment time to take the appropriate measures in order to return to compliance. If the company fails to do so then its licenses could be canceled, leading to serious consequences.

However, if the company’s casinos manage to become suitable to hold a license again, the suspension may be lifted at any time and that could be a huge boost for Star Entertainment’s reputation.

Star Entertainment was founded in 2011 and it owns and operates the Treasury Casino & Hotel The Star Gold Coast and The Star Sydney. The company also manages the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Center on behalf of the Queensland Government.

SOURCE: “The Star facing class action lawsuit over alleged AML ‘misleading representations’“. Asia Gaming Brief. February 6, 2023.