Money laundering central to Queensland Star probe
|
By Nick Gibbs and Robyn Wuth in Brisbane
Star Entertainment’s money laundering controls will be tested as a fresh probe examines whether people banned from other casinos were encouraged to travel to Queensland.
Public hearings into Star’s suitability to hold a casino licence began in Brisbane on Tuesday, with counsel assisting Jonathan Horton QC confirming the issue of money laundering will play a central role.
The hearing was told that while Star handles the matter at a group level, there are specific concerns relating to Queensland.
It will focus on people excluded by police in other states over suspicions of involvement in criminal activity.
“There’s the issue of some persons being actively encouraged to come to Queensland, and being given benefits to do so even though, and this might be an understatement, red flags existed,” Mr Horton told the hearing.
Star eventually adopted a whole-of-group exclusion policy in 2019, whereby a person barred in Sydney would also be excluded in Queensland, but the policy did not appear to be retrospective.
As a consequence, people already excluded from the Sydney casino weren’t excluded in Queensland, Mr Horton said.
The inquiry is also expected to investigate the use of China UnionPay accounts for gambling, despite currency movement restrictions.
Central to the issue is an allegation that patrons could divert funds from their ChinaUnion Pay accounts to credit their hotel room accounts.
Accompanied by a VIP host, the patron would then allegedly take a receipt to the hotel cage and exchange it for cash or chips.
When the casino’s banker National Australia Bank queried the issue, the hearing was told none of Star’s explanations made it clear the funds were for gambling.
The practice ended in March 2020, with evidence suggesting some $55 million was transacted in Star Queensland casinos using this process.
The figure is about 10 per cent of what took place in Star’s NSW operation, Mr Horton told the hearing.
The Queensland inquiry first heard from three witnesses with experience of gambling harm – either personally or as the partner of someone with addiction issues.
Speaking under a pseudonym, witness C said she had gambled on the pokies infrequently with friends until a bad argument with her partner prompted a visit to the pub.
Eventually, she lost more money than she could count as well as her “last shred of self esteem”.
Her experience outlined gambling issues generally and was not directly related to Star.
Star’s manager of responsible gambling Junior Toleafoa told the inquiry the company employed teams of people trained to identify and deal with problem gamblers.
“They will actually encourage them to take the appropriate kind of path – we try to encourage people to make a good decision,” he said.
He said gamblers unable to make “rational decisions” were encouraged to take breaks before management intervened.
“We would offer them an exclusion, and they are probably not going to take it. We would then exclude them ourselves.”
However, Mr Toleafoa said there was a range of options available before a gambler was excluded.
“Not everybody requires an exclusion or to go to that extent… There would be that encouragement to say perhaps you should take a break,” he said.
Mr Toleafoa will continue giving evidence on Wednesday.
Star Entertainment interim chief executive Geoff Hogg is expected to appear at the hearing on Friday.
The group’s $3.6 billion resort and casino development at Queen’s Wharf in Brisbane is expected to open in 2023.
The review before Judge Robert Gotterson will report to the attorney-general by September 30.
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
AAP
