SGR: ASX Star to keeps the light on after last-minute deal

An American NYC casino hotel late check‑out operator controlled by a New York hedge fund has joined the opportunists sniffing around embattled Star Entertainment Group, which is on its last legs and desperately seeking a capital injection to avoid administration. The casino operator warned that additional equity may be required as part of the refinancing of the DBC debt facility. Star Brisbane casino modernization first entered the deal with its the Hong Kong investors in early March, after months of warnings about its financial future — and prior to the bigger deal struck with Bally’s and the Mathiesons. The Australian Financial Review reported that the company had failed to raise the funding required to meet near-term payments, including for payroll, free slot games online which puts the company at serious risk of running out of cash. After a brief trading halt on Friday morning, Star shares plunged 15.4 per cent to 11¢, valuing the company once worth $5 billion at about $315 million. Star did not name the parties that are expected to provide an offer of financing, but it has confirmed previously that US finance giant Oaktree has tried to buy out Star’s debt from its lenders.
Mr Ewing said the fall comes after households took advantage of promotional activity like Black Friday sales, which drove strong goods spending at the end of 2024. But nominal household spending slowed sharply to 2.9 per cent over the year to January, the slowest rate since September 24. Household spending rose 0.4 per cent in January, driven by Aussies spending more on areas including doctors visits and travel. The reserve will be funded with Bitcoin owned by the federal government, obtained through criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. “But the further down the horizon we look, the more opaque the outlook becomes, and stock markets are also looking more cautious as the broader impact of tariffs takes shape.”
If funding isn’t secured, Star will face the prospect of entering voluntary administration, which would see independent administrators appointed to manage affairs on behalf of creditors, and attempt to rescue operations. Shares in Star Entertainment have been suspended from trading on the stock exchange after it failed to lodge its financial results. Calix Ltd has seen its shares soar to 60cps on Monday trades after announcing it’s teaming up with none other than Rio Tinto. Most Star employees are based in Sydney, and despite recent troubles, its Pyrmont Slotimo top slot site remains a major tourism destination, with 650 hotel rooms and 36 food and beverage venues. In February, Star said it had received an $650 million offer from US alternative asset manager Oaktree Capital to refinance its debt.
It has been seeking a rescue package to stay afloat but until now has been unsuccessful, with the group most recently failing to secure $940 million from property development fund Salter Brothers Capital. United Workers Union welcomed the deal for the 9,000 employees across the group who could have been left high and dry if it collapsed. The Motley Fool stands behind our products and our membership-fee-back guarantee. If for any reason you are not 100% satisfied with your premium subscription, simply notify us within the first 30 days and you won’t pay a cent.
Apart from the higher regulatory costs following a run of scandals, Star’s fortunes have also been hurt by poor gaming turnover at its casinos and the move to cashless gaming in NSW, with Queensland to follow. Star also told investors it had received overtures from its Chinese partners – Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Limited and Far East Consortium International Limited – to pick up a 50 per cent stake in the company’s Queen’s Wharf casino in Brisbane. A $2.2bn non-cash impairment was reported for Sydney, Gold Coast and Treasury Brisbane goodwill and property assets. There were also regulatory and legal costs of $595m, debt restructuring costs of $54m and redundancy costs of $16m.
The notice to terminate the transaction comes into effect in five business days, on Monday July 7, unless withdrawn prior. “We need to implement those, and we need to make sure that we understand what the revised revenue model is for our business across gaming and non-gaming over time,” McCann said at the meeting. The provisions are used when a financially struggling company is considering a last-ditch restructuring attempt as an alternative to financial collapse and calling in administrators.
Sacks said the US government will have a strategy to maximise the value of its holdings in such a reserve, but he didn’t offer details as to how. As noted, White House-appointed ‘AI and Crypto Czar’ David Sacks revealed on X (formerly Twitter) that Trump signed an executive order to establish a “strategic Bitcoin”. A full-blown trade war could also impact the direction of local interest rates and the Aussie live dealer casino instant withdrawal dollar — which has already faced much volatility. According to the corporate watchdog ASIC the entity was registered on March 3 this year, and lists Melbourne businessmen Nicholas Dobromilsky and Graeme Wilson as its directors. The dairy giant did not name those involved in the new entity but said it was being led by “two experienced Australian businessmen with supply chain and manufacturing expertise”.
Both groups used a model banned by almost every jurisdiction in the world, apart from Macau. They allowed outsiders to run private gambling operations within the confines of their casinos. That paved the way for organised Chinese crime syndicates to launder money in Australia. On Friday, the shares briefly dropped below 20c, valuing the group at just $1.2 billion. Strip away the huge money-laundering operation from mainland Chinese-based criminal gangs, and the business model upon which Australia’s two big fair go casino chat support groups has been built suddenly is under threat. That annoying little slogan tacked on to the end of every broadcast gambling advertisement, as a warning to those with an addiction, has come back to bite casino owners and investors.
Copyright © 2025 FactSet Research Systems Inc.Copyright © 2025, American Bankers Association. “They’re not highly paid people — they’re struggling with the cost of living as everyone else is and they can’t afford to take a pay cut.” The union was not aware of any requests for staff to take pay cuts or give up benefits to help keep the business afloat.