On 28 October 2026 the Federal Court of Australia ordered The Star Entertainment Group to pay a AU$260 million penalty, about US$182–183 million, for breaching anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws. Justice Cameron Moore delivered the judgment on Wednesday, according to iGaming Business and Casino.org.
AUSTRAC began the civil penalty proceedings against Star in 2022, and Casino.org dates the application to November of that year.
The regulator had pushed for more. Both outlets report that AUSTRAC suggested fines of up to AU$400 million, and Casino.org describes that as the figure it asked the court for. Star proposed AU$100 million, according to Casino.org alone.
The new penalty comes on top of AU$200 million in earlier penalties Star had already paid, which Casino.org places in the year after the 2021 state inquiries.
AUSTRAC chief executive Brendan Thomas said: "The Court found The Star did not simply fail to complete the right checks. It allowed high-risk customers to gamble without properly establishing where their money came from and put profit over compliance on a large scale."
Between November 2016 and November 2022, Star generated roughly AU$1.3 billion from high-risk customers. iGaming Business, citing Star's own estimates, puts the figure at about AU$1.33 billion. Casino.org calls it more than AU$1.3 billion in gross gaming revenue and says Star conceded the number in court.
Against that revenue, AU$260 million is about 20%, roughly one dollar of penalty for every five dollars taken from those customers over six years. It is also 65% of the AU$400 million AUSTRAC sought. The comparison uses revenue, not profit, and the figures available do not include what serving those customers cost Star. So the ratio shows the scale of the penalty relative to the business. It does not show whether the conduct was profitable after the fine.
Several further details appear in only one outlet and have not been confirmed by a second source.
iGaming Business reports that more than 1,200 customers were allowed to gamble through "high-risk channels" without adequate AML/CTF safeguards. It puts junket-linked revenue above AU$1.4 billion, with pre-Covid junket profits of more than AU$100 million. The same outlet says the court found two former senior Star executives breached the Corporations Act 2001, and that Justice Moore said the AU$260 million took into account the AU$200 million already paid, licence suspensions and an externally appointed manager. On licensing, it reports that the NSW Independent Casino Commission extended The Star Sydney's casino licence until summer 2027 with Nicholas Weeks remaining as external manager, and that the deadline for the Star Gold Coast licence suspension was pushed to 2027.
Casino.org reports that Star is now controlled by Bally's Corporation. It also reports that chairman Soo Kim told the 27 October 2026 annual general meeting that all three of Star's casinos are EBITDA-positive and that Star is fully AML/CTF compliant, and told the Australian Financial Review that Star will be able to pay the fine. These are the company's own claims.
iGaming Business reports that Justice Moore took the earlier AU$200 million into account; how much it changed the figure, we do not know, and only the published reasons of the judgment would answer that.
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