Australia's Star faces likely casino licence pull or $67 million fine for regulatory breaches

(Reuters) -The casino commission in Australia's biggest state said on Friday it may cancel Star Entertainment's Sydney licence or fine it up to A$100 million ($67.2 million) after an inquiry found breaches of anti-money laundering protocols.

The New South Wales Independent Casino Commission (NICC) has served the casino giant a disciplinary notice that relates to four significant breaches detailed in a second report released on Aug. 30.

Star is currently "considering the matters raised in the notice" and expects to respond to the regulator by Sept. 27, the casino operator said in a separate statement.

"The NICC has also requested information about the company's current financial position and its proposed plans to address these issues on an ongoing basis."

Earlier this year, the NICC launched a second investigation into Star on concerns that it had not sufficiently addressed its cultural shortcomings after being exposed for major anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism failures in 2022.

The breaches mentioned in the notice pertain to "a cash fraud against Star, a failure to run source of wealth checks on hundreds of members flagged as high risk, and fraudulent guest welfare entries that put already vulnerable customers at higher risk of harm," the NICC said in a statement on Friday.

The regulator has given the company 14 days to respond to the 'show cause' notice.

Star Entertainment's licence to operate its lucrative Sydney casino was already suspended in October 2022 after an enquiry found the company unsuitable to hold a licence and ordered it to pay a A$100 million fine.

The company's shares were suspended from trading on Sept. 2 by the Australian bourse operator after Star failed to submit its annual report for fiscal 2024 by the required due date.

($1 = 1.4872 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Savio D'Souza and Eileen Soreng)