The Star Gets 19 Months to Pay A$260M AML Fine

Justice Cameron Moore delivered the ruling on October 28. The amount is well above what Star said it could afford, but below the penalty sought by financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC, ABC News reported.

Court Rejects Both Penalty Proposals

AUSTRAC wanted A$400 million. Star argued that A$100 million was the most it could manage and warned that a higher penalty could push the business into liquidation.

The court settled on A$260 million, allocating A$195 million to breaches at The Star Sydney and A$65 million to its Queensland operations. Sydney accounts for 75% of the total. The final figure is 35% below AUSTRAC’s request. It is also A$160 million higher than Star’s proposed penalty.

The case dates back to November 2022, when AUSTRAC brought civil proceedings over failures involving customer due diligence, money-laundering risk controls and high-risk gambling activity.

Moore considered the scale of the breaches, along with earlier state penalties and changes made to the operator’s compliance systems. Those previous sanctions were among the reasons the federal penalty was not higher.

Four Payments of A$65 Million

The court rejected AUSTRAC’s position that the money should be paid in full immediately. Instead, Star will make four equal A$65 million payments over 19 months, according to Inside Asian Gaming’s report on the ruling.

Moore acknowledged that Star would likely need to raise more money to meet the obligation. Requiring everything at once could undermine its ability to pay.

The operator had already needed outside support. Bally’s Corporation and the Mathieson family backed a A$300 million rescue package in 2025 after Star came close to administration.

Penalty Exceeds Star’s September Cash Balance

One day before the judgment, Star published its quarterly report for the period ended September 30. The figures put the court’s decision into perspective.

At September 30, Star held A$239 million in cash and cash equivalents, down from A$267 million three months earlier. The new penalty exceeds that reported balance by A$21 million, or 8.8%.

Each A$65 million instalment is equivalent to roughly 27% of the September cash balance. This comparison does not account for subsequent cash movements or the funds needed to keep the casinos operating.

Star’s first-quarter FY27 EBITDA improved to A$12 million, although its statutory cash flow report showed A$15.5 million in net cash used in operating activities. The group also reported A$80 million in restricted deposits at September 30. Of that amount, A$48 million was held in a reserve for financing interest payments through May 2027.

USD conversion uses the Reserve Bank of Australia’s October 27, 2026 rate of US$0.7021 per A$1.