Star Hid AU$900m in Gambling Transactions From Banks
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The Star allegedly lied to banks and categorized AU$900m (US$660m) worth of gambling transactions as hotel expenses.
Star Entertainment Group allegedly hid AU$900m (US$660.5m) worth of Chinese gambling transactions from banks. The Star’s casinos in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney would accept UnionPay debit card transactions at the attached hotels. Employees transferred the funds to the gambling accounts of the patrons.
NAB, The Star's bank, first flagged concerns to the casino company in June 2019. It noticed a significant amount of gambling transactions processed using a merchant code that categorized them as hotel expenses. UnionPay does not allow people to use cards for gambling as the activity is illegal in mainland China. The company stopped accepting these cards completely in March 2020.
The Star casino in Sydney was accused of operating the UnionPay scheme and hiding gambling transactions from banks. Crown Resorts in Melbourne did something similar at its casino. It was deemed unfit to run its casinos in the state. The company is now on track for a US$3.6bn takeover by US private equity firm Blackstone Group.
