Stellar Entertainment News: Suncity Gaming Area ‘Openly Ignored’ Licensing Regulations –
An investigation by Bell Lawyers into widespread misbehavior at Star Sydney’s gambling establishment has uncovered that the company’s interactions with the troubled VIP room operator Suncity constituted a “violation” of its casino license and exposed a series of social responsibility shortcomings.
The accusations focus on the operations of a space within the casino known as the “95 Salon.” In this area, the VIP room operator was granted the unusual privilege of running a secondary cash cage, where chips could be exchanged for currency, a function typically reserved for casino license holders.
Suncity founder and chief executive Alvin Chau was apprehended in November 2021 and accused of leading a “triad organization.” This implies that Star Entertainment, which is authorized by relevant authorities in New South Wales, may have relinquished control of the most sensitive aspects of casino operations to a group potentially connected to organized crime, which has significant implications for the casino’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing strategies – and raises concerns about the extent of criminal infiltration.
The 95 Salon had a security camera, but it had a large blind spot.
In the summer of 2018, video recordings revealed a service desk worker giving a significant amount of money to a representative of a high-roller area who was not associated with the Star Entertainment Group.
The document indicated that regarding this event, “personnel of the Star City VIP Room 95 appeared increasingly daring in their disregard for the rules Star City was trying to enforce.”
This was not a one-time occurrence, and the document listed numerous instances where video recordings showed Star City employees in VIP Room 95 participating in questionable activities.
During the examination, Graeme Stevens, Star City’s regulatory affairs director, acknowledged that he “intentionally deceived” the New South Wales regulatory body when the casino tried to submit a room alteration request, hiding the nature of the VIP Room 95 service desk.
In summarizing the relationship between Star City and the Crown, the document stated that Star City was discovered to have broken its internal control manual, thus violating the Casino Control Act of 1992, a serious violation of the operator’s license.
Meanwhile, Crown relinquished its primary business, the high-roller area operations, and attempted to rebrand and reposition its business, focusing on integrated resorts.
A lack of social responsibility.
The document, besides accusing the casino of financial and regulatory breaches and connections to organized crime, exposed a significant lack of social responsibility. In January, legal representatives assisting with the document presented three main shortcomings to Star Entertainment: permitting patrons to wager for extended durations without intervention from casino personnel; providing alcoholic beverages, including as an inducement to gamble; and ensuring social exclusion measures were put in place.
Philip Crawford, head of the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) and head of the ILGA, emphasized the widespread and systemic shortcomings at the casino in a statement accompanying the document.
“Beyond the examination of the genuine risk of criminal infiltration and the concealment by senior management, the report details the instances of individual patrons experiencing gambling harm,” Crawford stated.
“Star Entertainment provided complimentary alcoholic beverages to high-value customers as an incentive to gamble and permitted vulnerable patrons to wager for over 24 hours without intervention. These individual accounts are alarming and demonstrate how unchecked gambling can transition from entertainment to exploitation.”
The newly formed New South Wales Independent Betting and Liquor Authority (NICC) will determine the appropriate disciplinary measures to be taken against operators. Operators have been granted a two-week period to provide their responses to the report’s conclusions.
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