Australia’s Star Entertainment Group announced late Friday that its Group CEO and Managing Director, Robbie Cooke, will step down immediately as the company extends its efforts to win back its casino license amid a second review into its suitability.
The company revealed by way of an ASX filing that it had determined the continuation of Cooke’s leadership was “not going to be conducive to the NSW independent Casino Commission (NICC) determining to find the star capable of becoming suitable to hold a casino license in New South Wales.” Cooke had only been in the role since October 2022, having replaced former CEO Matt Bekier in the wake of the Bell inquiry into Star’s suitability.
According to Star, Cooke will be replaced on an interim basis by chairman David Foster while the search for a new CEO takes place.
“Robbie has worked tirelessly since he joined … focusing on stabilizing the operations, resolving a number of existential threats to the business, addressing separate remediation demands from regulators and rebuilding the management team and systems, including the addition of more senior risk, compliance and financial crime executives and the commencement of our culture transformation.
“Robbie shared in a resolve to put safe responsible and ethical gaming at the core of what we do. We remain absolutely committed to being judged suitable to hold a casino license in NSW and Queensland.
“In taking on executive duties, I am determined that the positive momentum at the Star continues as we work to win back the trust of our stakeholders. The many thousands of people working across the company deserve stability and security, and together they all continue to do great things to get the business back on track.”
In a separate announcement, Star also revealed the departure of Christina Katsibouba as Group Chief Financial Officer after nine years with the company. Katsibouba will be succeeded by Neale O’Connell, who will join The Star as Interim Group CFO on 25 March 2024. O’Connell was previously Global CFO of Corporate Travel Management and Group CFO at Tatts Group.
The departure of Cooke and Katsibouba comes after the NICC recently announced it would hold a second Bell inquiry into the company’s suitability, citing concerns over the effectiveness of its remediation efforts.
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