Operaattoreiden uutisia

Star vaatii tasaista pelikenttää pubeissa ja klubeissa pakollisen korttipelin sijaan

Star Entertainment Group CEO and Managing Director Steve McCann has said that the uneven playing field in terms of carded play, cash limits and time limits has seen players swap the casino for pubs and clubs.

Speaking as The Star reported an AU$302m loss in its first half, he confirmed that the ‘implementation of casino operating reforms (including mandatory carded play and cash limits at The Star Sydney’ was to blame although he remains confident that The Star would quickly become profitable if the same carded play initiatives were also introduced at pubs and clubs.

Whilst The Star’s revenues fell 25 per cent year-on-year to AU$650m, pubs and clubs in NSW reached a new personal best of AU$8.64bn in gaming machine revenue in 2024, whilst in Queensland pokies in clubs and pubs generated a record AU$3.53bn.

Mr McCann said: “In relation to the level playing field, we do believe there is strong appetite among regulators and state governments to achieve a safer gambling environment across the board. It’s very clear that customers that are no longer gaming at The Star are continuing to game elsewhere. Total revenue across NSW and QLD in gaming machines has actually increased in recent years – it’s the market share of The Star has that has materially declined – so if we were to regain a material portion of that market share we would be able to restore our revenue to profitable levels relatively quickly.”

“As we work with them to achieve that, we believe that there will be a level playing field that emerges,” he explained. “It’s likely to take a few years to achieve but we believe there is a strong appetite to do it. It’s very hard to put a date on it but clearly we’re doing our best to move as quickly as we can to achieve that.”

“There has been a very poor customer experience as we’ve implemented the rollout of carded play, cash limits, time limits and also our enhanced customer due diligence processes,” Mr McCann added. “People have been impacted by the suddenness of the communications occurring, by the way that their play has had to change, and it’s fair to say that Star’s existing financial position has also added to an environment which is less attractive for our customers than it should be, so we are working hard on reestablishing those relationships and reactivating some customers who are not coming to the Star anymore because they don’t like that combination of impacts which they don’t experience at the pubs and clubs.”

For its first half, domestic gaming revenue was down 32 per cent. Excluding the impact from the closure of Treasury Brisbane Casino, domestic gaming revenue was down 20 per cent (private gaming rooms down 25 per cent, main gaming floor down 16 per cent) and non-gaming revenue was down two per cent.