The Star Entertainment Group revealed its decision to suspend its VIP rebate programmes at a time when it is dealing with a lot of controversies due to the ongoing investigation into the company’s fitness to run its casino venue in Sydney.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the Australian gambling giant noted that the company’s board had decided to suspend the available VIP rebate programmes for both the domestic and international customers in all its casinos with immediate effect. The VIP rebate schemes would be suspended until further notice.
The gambling operator also pledged that it would partner with local regulatory bodies in order to address a number of identified risks as part of the ongoing reviews of its processes, systems and services. The Star Entertainment also reiterated its commitment not to work in collaboration with junket operators, also known as junkets, while it addresses the issues that have resulted from the ongoing review of the company’s operations.
All junket programs of The Star Entertainment were ended in October 2020. According to estimates of the company itself, its decision would not affect its financial earnings in the 2021-2022 period.
As Casino Guardian already reported, the aforementioned rebate programmes are often used by gambling operators to make brick-and-mortar casino services more attractive to gamblers.
Richard Sheppard Becomes First Director to Be Questioned as Part of the Ongoing Inquiry
At the beginning of the week, Richard Sheppard, the former director of Macquarie Bank became the first director to appear before the inquiry after 6 weeks of public questioning of the company’s executives. Mr Sheppard faced accusations of being careless in not checking facts before approving updates to the Australian Securities Exchange.
As heard by the inquiry, in October 2021, Richard Sheppard gave the green light to 2 statements that rejected some media reports stating that the gambling operator had kept secret a KPMG report into the anti-money laundering programme of The Star Entertainment Group. Mr Sheppard claimed that the statements were accurate, although they did not state that some of the media allegations were actually correct.
Naomi Sharp SC, the counsel assisting the investigation, asked whether Mr Sheppard was notified that the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) had repeatedly asked for the KPMG report and the casino and gambling giant refused to table it under alleged professional legal privilege. At the beginning of the week, it became clear that he had not been aware of that and had simply assumed that the AUSTRAC was given access to the required report.
According to Mr Sheppard, the report in question had not been kept secret but Ms Sharp SC noted that releasing it in those terms was a bit careless. The former boss acknowledged that the gambling company’s board was responsible for setting the culture of the entire operator, which eventually turned out unfit to operate its Sydney casino. He, however, confirmed that, for the time being, John O’Neill would remain at his executive chair position.
- Author
Olivia Cole
