An inquiry into Star Entertainment Group's Queensland casinos has heard one of the "top 10 table players" at its Gold Coast venue had been given a police ban from casinos in two other states.
Day three of public hearings of the inquiry into Star's Queensland casinos, led by former Court of Appeal judge Robert Gotterson, heard more details about patrons at its Queensland casinos.
Among them was Person 2, who had reported alleged links to Calabrian 'Ndrangheta organised crime group, and was excluded from venues in New South Wales and Victoria by police commissioners, but was able to continue gambling in the sunshine state until "some time later".
The hearing was told that patron — "one of the top 10 table players at Star Gold Coast" — was excluded from a Melbourne casino in December 2014, then from a NSW venue in 2015, but was not given a group-wide "withdrawal of licence" until January 2021.
Star's general manager of anti-money launder/counter terrorism financing compliance Howard Steiner, who only began working at the company in early 2020, agreed the two exclusions should have triggered their license being withdrawn and "not being at the casino fairly promptly".
Counsel assisting Jonathan Horton, QC, said in early 2019 Star was aware of the Sydney police exclusion and the gambler was rated as "high" on the register.
There were also references to media articles, Mr Horton said, but "there's a problem, it says, because the media articles are locked by a subscription so the person couldn't give them to the other person to read".
"If there were articles then which were of interest, the fact someone didn't have a subscription shouldn't be a reason not to scrutinise them?" Mr Horton asked Mr Steiner.
"That's correct," he responded.
'Culture of the past'
During the hearing, Mr Steiner acknowledged failures of the compliance strategy and a "culture of the past that does not exist today".
"I think we've addressed that cultural change within the Star and our culture like that are a vestige of the past," he said.
The inquiry was told details of another patron – referred to as Person 3 – who had no interstate exclusions, but in March 2015 was paid out approximately $1.5 million in cash by the casino.
Mr Steiner told the hearing that any time a patron cashes out for large amounts of money it raises a red flag "because it doesn't make sense".
That gambler's licence was withdrawn by Star in June 2021.
Two further case studies related to a patron who had been fined "a not-insignificant sum" by a court for deliberate exploitation of migrant workers and another gambler who had both faced exclusions and self-exclusions from casinos and was considered "politically exposed".
Mr Steiner said the term referred to someone who is "domestically or internationally that has a nexus to some government position, especially where that government position has access to funds", which would trigger attention.
The independent review is probing Star's existing Queensland casino operations The Star Gold Coast and Treasury Brisbane, its commitment to anti-money laundering responsibilities, and the use of China UnionPay debit or credit card facilities.
The inquiry has previously heard a patron known as Person 1 was showered with gifts and benefits for frequenting Star's Gold Coast casino, including a $50,000 Rolex watch, despite being banned from a Sydney casino in 2007.
'Overwhelming' body of material suggested gambler should have been excluded
The interim head of Star Entertainment has conceded the company should have had stronger policies and processes to stop high rollers with alleged criminal links, who were banned from interstate casinos from gambling in Queensland.
Acting CEO Geoff Hogg agreed there was an "overwhelming" body of material that a certain high-risk gambler who was banned interstate "could and should" have been excluded from the gambling giant's Queensland venues.
Asked by counsel assisting Jonathan Horton, QC asked "what more do you need than Person's 1's factual situation to exclude a person on whatever basis?".
Mr Hogg replied: "Today we would make a better decision, absolutely."
He told the hearing after becoming aware of that gambler's NSW police exclusion order in 2015 or 2016, he approached the company's chief legal officer.
"They felt that they couldn't issue an exclusion order under the act at that point in time, and that was primarily due to the information not being accessible from the NSW exclusion legally, and therefore they had done the review…well why is the person not excluded," he said.
"But then I also felt I wanted a bit more understanding about the situation so I asked the general manager of gaming to contact the onsite police at the Gold Coast … to understand if they had concerns."
Mr Hogg acknowledged while some patrons should have been banned earlier, he did not think it was "all driven by revenue decision".
"You couldn't conclude mistakes were made solely due to financial reasons," he said.
"But I acknowledge those systems and processes led to some people not being excluded for which the casino has financially gained."
The inquiry heard Person 1 gambled $10-$15 million over some 15 years at the Gold Coast casino.
But Mr Hogg said if the gambler had been excluded in 2015 "it would have made no significance to our financial result for the Gold Coast property".
Prior to 2019 there was no Star policy requiring the exclusion of guests who are subject to police commissioner directions in other states.
"I do accept that our policies and procedures weren't strong enough and those people should have been excluded earlier, strongly agree," Mr Hogg said.
"Our policies today have been updated to address this."
