Dodgy dealings at Star Casino puts its licence under the spotlight
An inquiry into Star Entertainment Group’s suitability to continue holding its casino license has revealed some National Australia Bank executives were involved in creating a loophole for money transfers, where international gaming clients were able to transfer money out of China and withdraw it in Australia.
The bank also overlooked numerous concerns raised that these transactions were being used to fund gambling.
At the inquiry on Friday, it was heard that these money transfers went as far back as 2013.
It was revealed that over $900 million dollars spent on a debit card for gambling was disguised as hotel expenditure.
The casino provided the cards that were reportedly owned by a Chinese financial services company called China Union. However, when Chinese Union caught wind, it raised concerns with NAB and threatened to stop its cards being used at Crown.
NAB was contracted by the China-based company to supply merchant terminals at various Star hotels, placing them in areas away from casino floors as the use of these card was prohibited for gambling purposes.
Patrons would use these terminals and staff would enter a merchant code for “hotel services” and print a voucher that was redeemable on the casino floor.
During Friday’s hearing an email was read out establishing that in March 2013, Andrew Haberley, an NAB official wrote to The Star’s regulatory manager David Aloi with information on how the machines could be used to disperse funds to casino playing accounts.
Mr Haberley said a 24-hour delay would be in place, however “once the funds hit accounts after 24 hours you can disperse them accordingly to the casino’s operating straight playing accounts”.
China Union questioned over 150 transactions because of their extremely high cost for hotel expenditure and raised concerns that these transactions may have been used to fund gambling activity.
The system created by NAB and enabled by The Star made it possible to avoid ordinary reporting requirements to law enforcement agencies.
Tanya Arthur, who heads NAB’s diversified industries and technology sector, told the hearing she had no knowledge of Mr Haberley’s email until a few months ago.
Even though China Union flagged transactions that appeared suspicious, she said she was assured that the hotel spending was legitimate. “We were asking The Star to substantiate a number of transactions … and I believed the answers provided to me at the time,” Ms Arthur said.
Two Star officials have admitted to misleading NAB staff, saying they were acting under executive orders.
Two Star officials have confirmed they misled NAB about the CUP card spending, stating that they acted at the behest of company executives.
Irit Jackson, 21st March 2022
