The newly appointed chairman of embattled Australian casino operator Star Entertainment Group, Soo Kim, has described the company’s historical woes as the “greatest bit of mismanagement I’ve ever seen”.
Star does, however, also represent a “generational opportunity” for his company to reverse the fortunes of the one-time giant of Australia’s gaming landscape.
Kim is the chairman of US casino giant Bally’s Corp, which alongside local pub firm Investment Holdings Pty Ltd has invested AU$300 million (US$200 million) to claim a combined 61% stake in Star that has saved the company from administration. Since gaining shareholder and regulatory approval in 2025, the new majority owners have put a broom through Star’s boardroom and executive teams, with all former board members now gone and Kim recently named as new chairman. Investment Holdings’ Bruce Mathieson Jr has also been appointed as Star’s new Group CEO following the sudden departure of Steve McCann in mid-December.
Speaking at the World Gaming Forum on the opening day of international industry trade show ICE Barcelona, Kim said he would “categorize Star as a generational opportunity for us” despite lingering uncertainty over the company’s future.
“This is a company that with two casinos in Sydney and the Gold Coast – they were still building their Brisbane integrated resort – was making over AU$500 million just four years ago,” he said. “Two years ago they were making AU$330 million, now it’s making essentially zero. I think it might be the greatest bit of mismanagement I’ve ever seen.
“I’ve seen a lot of mismanagement. If you think about our 19 casinos, we’ve only built one of them so most of those casinos we have picked up from other folks through some distressed sales, abandonments and whatnot. And we’ve turned them around. This is really what we do.”
Kim reiterated his confidence in Bally’s ability to do the same for Star, noting that the value of the hardware associated with Star’s Sydney and Gold Coast casinos alone numbers in the billions.
“I don’t even understand,” he continued. “We’ve done a lot of interesting turnarounds but this one, the inability of the caretaker management teams to operate a casino is severe. But there are lots of opportunities and we feel very good about our ability to take something where others have thought its best days were behind it and turn it into something real.
“Star might be the greatest opportunity in the world. I mean, it’s not even close when you think about the replacement value of those [Sydney and Brisbane] assets.
“It’s a generational opportunity, period.”
According to Kim, it is imperative that major Australian cities like Sydney, the Gold Coast and Brisbane continue to host world-class integrated resorts that matches their international standing.
“It’s really important for New South Wales and Queensland,” he said. “These are world-class cities. Brisbane is going to host the Olympics in a few years and Sydney obviously already has hosted one. And the ability for these world-class destination cities in Asia to have an integrated resort to offer tourism, as well as for their local patrons, I think it’s critical.”
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