Star Entertainment appointed Ameet Patel as chief executive of The Star Brisbane and The Star Gold Coast, subject to regulatory approvals. The company said Patel previously held senior roles at Bally’s Corporation, Penn National and Sun International.
The appointments put one executive in charge of Star Entertainment’s two Queensland resorts, pending regulatory approval.
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Bally’s said the A$260m penalty imposed on Star Entertainment by the Federal Court of Australia will not make the casino operator insolvent. Star accepted the penalty, payable in four instalments from November 2026 to May 2028; Bally’s cited Star’s improved first-quarter fiscal 2027 EBITDA and higher Sydney and Gold Coast revenue, while Star said the schedule would not affect its ability to continue as a going concern.
Gaming & Leisure Properties executives said the slowdown in construction at Bally’s Chicago casino had not changed GLPI’s outlook on the project during its third-quarter earnings call. They said the $1.7bn resort was roughly two-thirds complete and that its hotel and casino were expected to be weather-tight by December. GLPI said project delays could affect Bally’s repayment timing and financial position, while its own credit risk had not changed.
Queensland Attorney General Deb Frecklington announced a further six-month deferral of the Star Gold Coast casino licence suspension, through the end of March 2027. She said remediation work had progressed but priority matters remained unfinished; Nicholas Weeks’s appointment as special manager was also extended to that date.
The Star Entertainment Group reported normalised FY26 revenue of $1.101bn and an EBITDA loss of $16m, compared with $1.125bn and a $76m loss respectively in FY25. The company said July revenue at its Sydney and Gold Coast properties rose 6% year on year; it also warned that licensing, banking and other uncertainties cast substantial doubt on its ability to continue as a going concern.
Star Entertainment said it resolved disputes with the Commissioner of Taxation over GST and withholding tax on past junket payments. The Commissioner refunded AU$33 million of the AU$88 million Star had paid, leaving a AU$55 million charge for the year ended 30 June 2026. The disputes concerned payments made between October 2013 and June 2020.