The Special Manager charged with running The Star Sydney while its casino license remains suspended will be the first witness when public hearings as part of a second inquiry into Star Entertainment Group’s suitability gets underway today.
Nicholas Weeks, formerly head of integrity at the National Rugby League (NRL), was appointed to oversee Star’s Sydney reformation efforts after it was found unsuitable following the first Bell inquiry in 2022. Weeks was later appointed to a similar role watching over The Star Gold Coast and Treasury Brisbane following a similar finding in Queensland.
According to reports, one of the reasons the NSW Independent Casino Commission called for a second inquiry into Star was that it feared it was Weeks himself, rather than Star management, that was guiding the company’s reformation strategy.
News of the inquiry, announced in February, is said to have caught Star off guard and has since seen another round of executives, including Managing Director and CEO Robbie Cooke, fall on their swords.
While Cooke is expected to be called to give evidence in the coming weeks, he is not named on the list of witnesses for this opening week of evidence. Instead, former CFO Christina Katsibouba, former Chief Customer and Product Officer George Hughes, former Chief Legal Officer Betty Ivanoff and Acting CEO Peter Humphreys are among almost a dozen people named for the days ahead.
A final report is to be submitted to the NICC on 31 May 2024.
NICC Chief Commissioner Philip Crawford said when the second inquiry was announced that there was a “substantial shift required and The Star has had 18 months to demonstrate that it has the capability and resources to regain its casino licence.
“The NICC has had concerns about the extent that remediation is attributable to the manager’s oversight and direction versus what is being driven by The Star’s reform agenda.
“Bell Two will bring us back to the Bell Report and The Star’s efforts to regain its casino licence in the shadow of that report.
“There is much at stake for The Star, so the NICC is giving the casino every chance it can to demonstrate whether it has the capacity and competence to achieve suitability.
“This includes meeting its financial obligations under the casino licence and funding its remediation program sufficiently.
“The inquiry will provide the NICC with the information needed to make an important decision for The Star, its employees, its stakeholders and the wider community.”
Industry experts have told IAG that a second inquiry is likely the only way the regulator could reach an informed judgement on Star’s progress given that it has been Weeks, rather than the company itself, running The Star Sydney.
However, some local media reported over the weekend that there are concerns the NICC and Crawford in particular are on a mission against Star and have no intention of letting it rise from the ashes. Time will tell.
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