Star Entertainment Group halts trading in Australia after being suspended

One of Australia’s largest publicly traded casino operators, Star Entertainment Group, has had to temporarily halt trading due to being suspended by the Australian Securities Exchange.

The Sydney-based exchange found the company had failed to share its annual financial results before the due date, causing it to be delisted on Monday (Sep, 2). It’s not yet known when the casino operator will resume trading.

The operator has faced further criticism in recent times, with the first being from the Bell Report which was published in 2022.

The second Bell Report was later published and made available to the public on August 30. It was described as having “validated the concerns that prompted the second inquiry” by the New South Wales Independent Casino Commission.

The chief commissioner of the independent statutory authority Philip Crawford said: “The Bell Report reveals a company that had not moved quickly enough to address the governance and cultural concerns raised in the first Bell Report. It has only very recently turned its attention to dealing with challenges that should have been prioritized earlier.

“The Bell Report notes that Mr Steve McCann Group CEO, Ms Janelle Campbell Sydney CEO and Ms Jeannie Mok Group Chief Operating Officer, bring important experience and expertise to the process of engagement with regulators, remediation and cultural transformation which will be vital if the NICC decides that The Star should remain as the operator of The Star Casino.

“The level of transparency and cooperation has certainly improved since their appointments.

“However, the Bell Report underscores the NICC’s concerns that it was not receiving all of the facts from The Star at a time when we needed certainty the company could fund and prioritize an urgent business turnaround.

The NICC has said they are contemplating the findings of the second report and will respond in due course.

In the previous report, the casino operator was found to have implemented 22 of 30 recommended measures from the Bell report.

Featured Image: Via Ideogram

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