That’s what would have been giving auditors pause for thought when ticking off the company as a going concern. And it’s why the banks played hardball on giving Star fresh debt.
The Star’s new casino at Queen’s Wharf in Brisbane is at the heart of its financial troubles.
The first two months of the 2025 financial year were diabolical, with the group recording a $6.6 million loss in July and $1.1 million in August, and that’s before interest, tax and depreciation have been expensed. It looks even worse compared with July and August earnings the year before – which were profits of $20.3 million and $21.6 million respectively.
The introduction of effective regulation will provide a much clearer picture of what each of its casinos can earn when cleared of money laundering of problem gambler proceeds.
Of course, regulation and remediation costs are not Star’s only problem.
It has been caught in a building bind that many companies and people have also found themselves in as post-COVID costs have skyrocketed over the past few years. The company’s Queen’s Wharf casino has come in well over budget at an estimated cost of $4 billion.
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Additionally, thanks to the state of the economy and regulatory changes, the earnings that Star can bank from the Queen’s Wharf won’t be nearly as large as would have been anticipated when the project began in 2017.
On top of this are the hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties that Star has attracted for past behavioural sins, and shareholder class action that is yet to be litigated.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles confirmed this month that his government was prepared to negotiate a possible deferral of tax payments to protect almost 3000 jobs at the recently opened Queen’s Wharf complex in Brisbane.
The NSW government, however, wasn’t so prepared to join the rescue party by providing a better tax deal. Last year it agreed to defer the full implementation of a tax increase on poker machines in casinos until the end of the decade. In return, the Sydney casino complex has to maintain more than 3000 jobs until at least 2030.
And all these troubles are having to be navigated through a cost-of-living crisis and uncertainty around whether Star will regain suitability to hold a full licence in NSW.
McCann wins the prize for corporate understatement of the year for commentary on Star’s position.
“There are a number of significant challenges currently facing the business from an earnings, liquidity and balance sheet perspective.”