In morning trade, the just casino live dealer review operator's shares are down a massive 19% to $1.52. Star Entertainment chairwoman Anne Ward attended 45 board meetings (of a possible 46) of the distressed casino operator in the 2024 financial year. Necessitated by Star Entertainment being a dumpster fire (which might be unfair to dumpsters and/or fires).
Buying time ahead of an expected equity raise in fiscal 2025, the company raised $200 million in emergency debt facilities at a sharp 13.5% per year. Star’s balance sheet is in precarious condition after their 8th Jan update. Elevated remediation costs in fiscal 2023, poor performance and fines increased led to two dilutive capital raises in 2023 at $1.20 and $0.60 per share. In our view, Imperial Poker NetEnt games the NSW government’s issue of the second casino travel benefits license in Sydney stemmed from underinvestment and underperformance in The Star Sydney, depriving the state of taxation revenue. Star spent ~$500 million improving its Sydney facilities ahead of Crown Sydney’s opening however it was too little too late. We estimate that 30% of table revenue will be conceded to Crown Sydney within three years of the competitor’s operation. Fears circulate for Star after recent spending suggests the operator would be lucky to survive till their interim results expected late February.
The SkyCrown social media reports raised fresh allegations against Mr White of inappropriate behaviour from a former employee and a company supplier. According to Reuters, this was to buy the US Commerce Department time to make the order workable, after the rapid change created disruptions for customs inspectors, postal and delivery services and online retailers. "If the directors requested inquiries be made by management there was a lot of material available the board could have read." The biggest winner was Star Entertainment (+13.6%) on speculation it is about to offload its Brisbane casino ... Many of its remaining shareholders grabbed what they could before fleeing the wreck. The academic services and utilities sectors were in solid demand, while Ansell's strong result led healthcare higher.
It is suing several former directors and executives, including the former chief executive, in a case expected to last six weeks. Elizabeth Sheedy is on the advisory board of the Financial Integrity Hub and was previously on the board of the best Australian sports betting sites comparison Compliance Institute. In the past she has received research funding from financial institutions that have been accused of money-laundering, and from the Australian Compliance Institute. So first is the cyclical downturn in discretionary spending that's weighing on main floor gaming. We do expect VIP gaming to come back to levels much, much lower than it was pre-COVID. But we do expect it to come back to some extent over the next few years.
In all seriousness, though, I was really honoured to be nominated and a finalist. Without the dedication of the Proud team, we would never have been able to achieve what we had. Being able to co-lead a group of passionate and driven people is an absolute pleasure, and they are what fuelled me to keep going, even when it did get a little tough.
However, Star and its JV partners were "unable to reach agreement on a number of outstanding commercial issues" relating to the deal. Revenues are down, with Star Entertainment reporting an unaudited $270 million in revenue for no deposit bonus 4Q FY25, down 31% on 4Q FY24. The gambling company confirmed that JP Morgan increased its voting power in the group by 6.34% to 7.41%, taking its shareholding from around 182 million to nearly 213 million. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
