Leaked Files Deepen Scrutiny Of Star Entertainment's Licence Bid
Star Entertainment is facing renewed regulatory pressure after a joint investigation by The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age reported that leaked internal files show the casino operator cut its compliance and risk staff this year while regulators in New South Wales and Queensland were still deciding whether it can keep its gaming licences.
The reporting, published August 28-29, 2026, also alleges the group discussed an inflated budget for its Brisbane property that was said to have been shared with the banks financing the project, and that a senior executive was fired ten days after being hired over contested claims he made “grossly inappropriate” comments.
Staffing Cuts And Disputed Budget
According to the investigation, Star's group compliance headcount fell from 17 to four staff during 2026, while its group risk team dropped from five to two.
Internal memos reportedly warned that reduced staffing exposed the company to “significant and escalating” regulatory risk.
Separately, the leaked material describes two competing sets of financial projections drawn up in April 2026 for the Star Brisbane property at Queens Wharf: one described internally as achievable, and a second, more optimistic version that reporters were told had been “communicated to the banks” behind the Destination Brisbane Consortium.
Star Brisbane chief financial officer Richard Chan disputed that characterisation, telling the investigating journalists that the alternative figures were from a high-level internal model and that, to his knowledge, nothing was shared with lenders.
Regulators Still Weighing The Licences
The claims land in the middle of an active compliance review of Star's casino licences, run alongside Australia's wider oversight of licensed gambling operators.
In New South Wales, the state's Independent Casino Commission has had Nick Weeks acting as independent manager of Star Sydney since October 2022, a role repeatedly extended while the regulator assesses the casino's suitability to return to normal operation; the commission's own published update confirms Weeks' current appointment runs to September 30, 2026, pending its formal response to the 2024 Bell Inquiry report into the venue.
Star's Queensland casinos have operated under a comparable special manager arrangement since late 2022, following disciplinary action and a licence suspension tied to the same underlying compliance failures the Bell and Queensland reviews examined. Neither regulator has yet announced a ruling on the newly leaked material specifically.
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Mathieson Pushes Back
Star chief executive Bruce Mathieson Jnr responded on September 1, 2026, telling staff in an internal memo that the joint investigation amounted to “selective reporting” that lacked context.
Mathieson, who took over as CEO after Bally's Corporation and the Mathieson family injected rescue capital into the business last year, said he was committed to a cultural overhaul at what he called a "long-suffering business" and blamed the specific failures identified in the leak on decisions made under previous management.
The rebuttal did not dispute the underlying staffing figures reported by the investigation.
With the NSW commission's extended oversight of Star Sydney due to lapse at the end of September and Queensland regulators running a parallel process, the newly reported allegations give both bodies fresh material to weigh before deciding whether Star has done enough to demonstrate it can be trusted to hold a casino licence in either state.
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