Star Entertainment may have breached criminal law, as well as corporate and gambling law, with its controversial “work around” scheme to use China UnionPay cards for gambling.
On her second day of closing submissions at the Bell Inquiry, Naomi Sharp SC said the operator had broken the law each time it swiped China UnionPay cards in its hotel lobby and made the funds available to gambling. They may amount to about 2000 contraventions of the Casino Control Act.
It may also have breached laws against fraud when its executives sent “misleading and deceptive” emails to lender National Australia Bank.
The inquiry heard that Star allegedly processed nearly 2000 transactions by 1300 VIP gamblers through the CUP from 2012. In total about $900 million was put onto the cards.
On Tuesday, Sharp recommended that the inquiry find Star unsuitable to hold its license for the Star Sydney Casino due to the numerous failures in governance at the company.
Much of the probe has focused on Star’s international VIP business, which was said to have put profit above its corporate and regulatory responsibilities.
