Australia’s Federal Court has ordered The Star Entertainment Group to pay a penalty of A$260m over contraventions of the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, in proceedings brought by AUSTRAC, the national financial intelligence and AML/CTF regulator.
The Court found that The Star’s non-compliance with the AML/CTF Act “undermined the ability of AUSTRAC and law enforcement agencies to trace money to its source, resulting in a loss of opportunity to disrupt unlawful activity and recover the proceeds of crime”.
The contraventions included serious failures in the management of high-risk customers, among them failures to verify customer information and source of funds, to conduct appropriate due diligence and to monitor customer activity. More than 1,200 customers were able to gamble at The Star’s casinos through channels carrying high money laundering and terrorism financing risks.
Justice Moore said that “a significant part of Star’s business was dependent upon turning a blind eye to customers who presented a high ML/TF risk”.
The judge also pointed to the commercial logic behind the failures, finding there was “a strong financial incentive to engage in the conduct the subject of the contraventions”. He added: “Casinos can stand to benefit handsomely if the inflow of money, including cash, from domestic and overseas sources, can occur with limited friction and limited scrutiny.”
According to the Court, revenue from junkets alone exceeded $1.4bn, with profit from junkets in the pre-COVID years exceeding $100m. The Court also noted that revenue from high-risk customers over the November 2016 to November 2022 period was approximately $1.33bn on The Star’s own calculation. While such figures are not a measure of the benefit derived from the contraventions, the Court said they illustrate the potential to earn profits from a non-compliant approach to AML/CTF obligations.
In determining the size of the penalty, Justice Moore took account of the regulatory and financial consequences The Star has already faced, saying the operator had paid a significant price for its contravening conduct. “The Star has received penalties of $200m for conduct that significantly overlaps with the conduct subject to these proceedings,” he said. “The Star’s casino licences were suspended, and The Star has been under the supervision of a manager.”
AUSTRAC chief executive Brendan Thomas said the penalty reflects the seriousness of the contraventions and builds on previous state and Commonwealth fines to provide ongoing deterrence value, in light of the penalties The Star was subjected to under previous casino inquiries.
“The Court found The Star did not simply fail to complete the right checks,” Thomas said. “It allowed high-risk customers to gamble without properly establishing where their money came from and put profit over compliance on a large scale.”
Thomas added that because of the deficiencies in monitoring that The Star has admitted, AUSTRAC cannot know how much money high-risk customers moved through its casinos, and said the operator’s practices exposed the casino and Australia’s financial system to known risks.
The Federal Court penalty follows other significant penalties and regulatory action imposed on The Star in the wake of the Queensland and New South Wales casino inquiries, which examined related regulatory failings at the group.
AUSTRAC acknowledged the work of its law enforcement and regulatory partners, including the NSW Independent Casino Commission, in improving integrity, governance and compliance across the Australian casino sector.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed under the GamblingZine editorial verification process.
Sources
- Federal Court orders The Star to pay a penalty of $260m — Independent reporting (published 2026-10-29)
- g3newswire.com — Authoritative secondary source
- g3newswire.com — Authoritative secondary source
Reporting verified against the sources above; retrieval timestamps are preserved in the editorial record.