Star Entertainment Ordered to Pay A$260M for Systemic AML/CTF Failures

An Australian federal court has ordered The Star Entertainment Group to pay A$260 million (US$183 million) for systemic failures in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) compliance. Justice Cameron Moore handed down the decision on October 28, 2026, concluding that Star's business model had become dependent on deliberately overlooking customers who presented clear money laundering or terrorism-financing risks.

The core finding was damning: between November 2016 and November 2022, Star generated over A$1.3 billion in gross gaming revenue from high-risk customers while failing to properly establish the source of their funds. Moore noted that Star "continued to receive and profit from money that evidence available to it suggested was most likely from criminal activity and was being laundered." The judge emphasized that casinos have a strong financial incentive to ignore AML/CTF obligations, as unrestricted cash inflows from domestic and international sources generate significant profit margins.

The case originated in state inquiries launched in 2021 by regulators in New South Wales and Queensland into whether Star's three properties (The Star Sydney, The Star Gold Coast, and The Star Brisbane) were complying with AML/CTF regulations. Those inquiries resulted in a A$200 million fine in 2022. AUSTRAC, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, subsequently filed civil penalty proceedings in federal court in November 2022, initially seeking A$400 million in damages. Star countered with a petition for A$100 million, but the court settled on A$260 million as an appropriate penalty reflecting the severity and duration of the violations.

AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas issued a statement underscoring the regulator's intolerance for operator misconduct: "The Court found The Star did not simply fail to complete the right checks. It allowed high-risk customers to gamble without properly establishing where their money came from and put profit over compliance on a large scale."

Star Entertainment has undergone significant structural changes since the violations occurred. The operator is now controlled by US-based Bally's Corporation following a corporate overhaul. At the company's annual general meeting on October 27, Chairman Soo Kim (who also chairs Bally's) told shareholders that Star has achieved AML/CTF compliance under the new ownership and has adopted "the highest" industry standards set by NSW and Queensland regulators. Kim stated that the three Star properties are now operating with positive EBITDA and cash is building, marking what he described as "quite a different story than just nine months ago." Following Moore's judgment, Kim confirmed that Star will be able to pay the A$260 million fine.

The case underscores persistent challenges in the casino industry regarding regulatory oversight and compliance culture. While Star's ownership restructuring appears to have prompted remediation efforts, the scale of the penalty reflects years of institutional failure to prioritize AML/CTF obligations over revenue generation. The decision also demonstrates that Australian regulators are willing to impose substantial financial consequences on major operators, setting a benchmark for enforcement across the region's gaming sector.