The NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) has issued The Star Sydney with AU$10m ($7.2m) in fines and required the casino to set aside an additional AU$5m through an enforceable undertaking aimed at strengthening its financial crime risk management systems.
The sanctions follow investigations conducted by Liquor & Gaming NSW into thousands of compliance breaches identified across four separate disciplinary matters.
The largest penalty, AU$5m, relates to systemic failures in financial crime risk operations between July 2023 and September 2025. The NICC also ordered The Star to establish a dedicated remediation fund of AU$5m to support technology upgrades and improve compliance with anti-money laundering and financial crime obligations.
Additional penalties include AU$3m for allowing the conversion of casino reward points into cash-equivalent benefits involving at least 1,898 patrons between 2018 and 2023, AU$1.5m for permitting customers to exceed prescribed gambling time limits between May 2024 and April 2025, and AU$500,000 for failing to prevent an excluded patron from entering the casino on nine occasions.
According to regulators, some patrons were able to gamble for more than 12 hours within a 24-hour period, while more serious cases involved continuous gambling sessions exceeding 36 hours.
The financial crime breaches included deficiencies in customer risk assessments, enhanced due diligence procedures and ongoing monitoring processes.
In some cases, the casino also failed to adequately assess whether customers posed risks linked to money laundering or terrorism financing.
NICC Chief Commissioner Philip Crawford said the breaches were serious but noted that many occurred before recent remediation measures and technology upgrades were implemented. He added that the commission had observed significant progress under The Star’s current leadership and ongoing remediation programme.
The enforceable undertaking marks the first time the NICC has used the regulatory tool since legislative changes introduced the option in 2022.
The latest penalties represent a further chapter in a busy period for The Star. Earlier this year, the group secured a $390m refinancing deal with WhiteHawk Capital Partners, providing approximately AU$130m in additional liquidity to support its recovery.
Leadership has also been in flux, with John Koster named as incoming CEO of The Star Sydney in March 2026, bringing over four decades of international casino experience to the role.
An enforceable undertaking is a legally binding commitment requiring an operator to address identified compliance failures and implement specific remedial measures under regulatory oversight
