Australian Prime Minister Resists Regulator Call on Star Entertainment

The Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has challenged claims that an over-arching, national organization is required to help regulate Australia’s domestic gambling marketplace. The call for such an entity arrives after a sustained period of turbulence for the country’s gaming sector, as two of the country’s largest casino firms face intense scrutiny over their internal financial operations.

As recently as Tuesday, Star Entertainment Group, who hold several properties across eastern Australia, were judged to be unfit to hold a casino licence in New South Wales. The verdict was delivered after a ten-month probe into Star’s illicit financial activity and confirmed concerns about the company’s approach to AML rules and social responsibility commitments. Queensland’s local regulator commenced its own investigation into the disgraced operator towards the end of August, probing similar allegations raised to those found to be true at Star’s Sydney property. This activity comes shortly after Crown Resorts, another major player in the Aussie casino sector, endured a raft of penalties for financial failures at its Melbourne establishment. The Blackstone-owned concessionaire finds itself having to address a number of shortcomings before the state of Victoria will deem it fit to continue trading.

Given these events, a number of political and social commentators have suggested the creation of a national regulator may serve to help re-calibrate the climate of Australian gaming. However, Albanese has doubled down on the present, regionalized approach, arguing that state jurisdictions have dealt admirably with recent challenges.

‘’I think it’s pretty obvious that the state regulators are doing a pretty good job of holding the casino operators to account’’, said the Aussie PM, adding that ‘’what we’ve seen is (state) regulators taking strong action and foreshadowing further strong action’’.

The NICC, the group that will manage disciplinary action against Star Entertainment in New South Wales, have allowed the ailing operator fourteen days to respond to the state’s investigation findings published on Tuesday. Any penalties will be issued after this period has elapsed.