Latest news with #StarEntertainment
AU Financial Review
2 days ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Star chair Anne Ward's other sharemarket dumpster fire
Star Entertainment chairwoman Anne Ward attended 45 board meetings (of a possible 46) of the distressed casino operator in the 2024 financial year. It's surely one of the busiest director schedules on the ASX. Necessitated by Star Entertainment being a dumpster fire (which might be unfair to dumpsters and/or fires). Less known is that Ward is also chairwoman of the ASX-listed Articore Group, the ecommerce operator of Redbubble. She joined as a director in 2018.
Daily Mail
16-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Gable Tostee rants after news he's suing a major casino following another incident with a woman in a hotel
A man acquitted of murdering his Tinder date has gone on a social media rant following news reports claiming he had been released without charge following an incident involving a woman at a casino. Tinder playboy Gable Tostee was found not guilty of the murder of Warriena Wright after she fell from the balcony of his high-rise Gold Coast apartment in 2014. Tostee, who now goes by the name Eric Thomas, last month challenged Star Entertainment's decision to ban him from its casinos following an incident at its Broadbeach Grand Hotel in 2022. In a judgment published by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT), Mr Thomas was described as saying the ban was discriminatory in that it had been made on the basis of his sex. The operator instituted the ban after security staff were alerted to a disturbance in a hotel room on April 28, 2022. On Friday, he took to social media to blast 'disgusting and plainly false reporting' of the details published in the judgment described as 'shocking new claims'. 'In fact, the EXACT OPPOSITE of what this article suggests is true. These are not "fresh claims", they are objectively disproven lies,' he wrote on Facebook. He demanded the media outlets in question re-published the article, issue a formal apology and a retraction, before adding: 'I think they have a clear defamation case on their hands now.' The QCAT judgment, which was published on April 24, said security staff attending a hotel room found a female guest 'on her back with her dress up over her hips and with Mr Thomas "over the top of her" fighting'. According to the judgment, the female guest, referred to as 'Ms S', told officers she had been 'strangled' by Mr Thomas before he was detained by police and removed to the Southport watch house. Police processed a domestic violence order preventing Mr Thomas from coming within 100m of Ms S but ultimately did not pursue charges against him. The casino operator subsequently issued him with a withdrawal of licence, prohibiting him from entering its casinos in Brisbane, Sydney and the Gold Coast. Mr Thomas wrote to the operator in November, 2022, requesting his withdrawal of licence be revoked. He attached an affidavit from Ms S attesting she had suffered a 'dissociative episode' during the night in question. Based on that information, the casino operator approved a recommendation to rescind his withdrawal of licence before deciding to uphold the ban after learning Mr Thomas, under the name of Gable Tostee, had been the subject of 'adverse attention from the media'. 'This included recent coverage of a court hearing in which Mr Thomas had pleaded guilty to refusing to provide a blood or breath sample after he had been found naked in his vehicle after a collision and while he appeared intoxicated,' the judgment said. The operator decided to continue his withdrawal of licence and notified him in writing in January 2023 - a decision that was again approved at a subsequent meeting. In an interlocutory application, Mr Thomas alleged there was 'no difference between the two participants other than sex', and he received completely different treatment than the other. He said he had suffered 'tremendous psychological and social harm' as a result of the ban, adding he had never caused 'detriment' to the operator in the past. The Star alleged it had a common law right to exclude Mr Thomas as an occupier. The tribunal refused to lift the ban on an interlocutory basis ahead of a hearing later in the year, claiming Mr Thomas had failed to substantiate his gender discrimination claim. 'On the material before me, there is no evidence to suggest that the respondents acted the way that they did on the basis Mr Thomas was male,' QCAT senior member Samantha Traves said. She said there were 'good grounds' to exclude him, including the April 28 incident as well as Mr Thomas' alleged 'history of unlawful behaviour under the influence of alcohol'. 'Moreover, The Star would potentially be exposed to liability for any adverse incidents involving Mr Thomas and its patrons and could also suffer reputational damage through any related adverse publicity should Mr Thomas again engage in such behaviour,' she said. Ms Traves listed the matter for a two-day oral hearing in Brisbane on November 17 and 18, 2025. In the same Facebook post on Friday, Mr Thomas confirmed he was suing the casino operator for discrimination for refusing to lift the ban. 'In 2022 I was violently, unprovokedly attacked by a hIghly intoxicated woman at Star, who then lied to Star staff and police,' he said. 'Star's own staff had kicked the woman out of the Cherry Bar immediately prior and even witnessed her attack me. Despite this, Star banned me immediately. 'Police dropped action against me because I had audio footage and wounds proving I was the victim. Despite Star being aware of this, they have refused to lift the ban or take action against the woman involved, which is in fact why I am suing them for discrimination.'
AU Financial Review
04-05-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Star's Brisbane project pulls Multiplex deeper into loss
Construction giant Multiplex sank deeper into loss last year after it wrote off $192.6 million for building work on Brisbane's Queen's Wharf casino, resort and residential project as the financial position of its Star Entertainment joint venture client deteriorated. The impairment pulled Multiplex's net after-tax loss to $219.5 million last calendar year from $34.6 million, even as revenue jumped by one-third to $4 billion, the Sydney-based company revealed in financial documents lodged with corporate regulator ASIC last week.
AU Financial Review
30-04-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Star earnings outlook worsens as it prepares for new owner Bally's
Star Entertainment is continuing to lose money across its precincts, with the introduction of cash limits and mandatory identification cards at its Sydney casino plunging the group into a quarterly loss. The ASX-listed casino operator told investors on Wednesday there was still material uncertainty regarding its ability to continue as a going concern, posting an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (before significant items) loss of $21 million in the quarter ending March 31.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Star Entertainment swings to third-quarter loss as storms, weak demand hit casinos
(Reuters) -Star Entertainment said on Wednesday it swung to an operating loss in the third quarter, as seasonal weakness, dwindling casino visitors and Queensland property closures from March storms battered the troubled Australian gambling operator. For the quarter ended March 31, the company reported a loss in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of A$21 million ($13.41 million), before significant items, compared with an EBITDA profit of A$38 million a year earlier. Quarterly revenues, before significant items, fell 35% to A$271 million from last year. Operating expenses fell 3% sequentially due to lower corporate costs and volume-related reductions. Shares rose 2.4% to A$0.1075 by 0046 GMT, outperforming a 0.2% rise in the broader benchmark index. The company warned that there is still "material uncertainty" regarding its ability to continue as a going concern, highlighting several critical initiatives needed to shore up its liquidity position. Earlier this month, Star agreed to an A$300 million rescue package from U.S. group Bally's and the Mathieson family — Star's largest investor. In June, shareholders will consider approving a part of Bally's investment, which will give the U.S. casino group control of 56.7% of Star. Star said that completing this strategic investment is critical to its survival, and it's among its key near-term initiatives, alongside securing access to proceeds from the Sydney Event Centre sale and completing a transaction to exit its DBC joint venture. ($1 = 1.5657 Australian dollars)
