Diving into the unenviable job of cleaning up Star casinos earlier than scheduled, incoming CEO Robbie Cooke is vowing to rehabilitate the embattled gambling and entertainment company.
"We need to be putting compliance at the top of the list and if you do that, it protects shareholder value," he told AAP on Thursday.
An experienced operator with years under his belt in the gambling and travel sectors heading up accommodation booking site Wotif.com, Mr Cooke is keen to get stuck in.
But he'll have to deal with the dark cloud of two scathing reports in NSW and Queensland deeming the operator unsuitable to hold a casino licence.
"There's definitely some challenges in the business," he said.
"It's rare that it's had two reviews - the Bell and Gotterson reviews - which definitely raised some issues which were confronting.
"The thing for me about the business (Star) is that it has accepted them and has demonstrated a commitment to do what it takes to rehabilitate.
"My big focus to deal with those issues is my commitment to our regulators, to our government partners, to our 75,000 shareholders, 8000 team members and the community at large to rebuild trust."
The NSW report by Adam Bell released a month ago found "extremely serious governance, risk management and cultural failures" had occurred at the Pyrmont complex in Sydney which employs 8000 staff.
The NSW gaming regulator found Star had repeatedly breached the law, misled banks and allowed criminals to operate with impunity and gamble almost without restraint.
Meanwhile, the Gotterson report in Queensland said a focus on profit resulted in a "serious dereliction" of Star's Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-terrorism Financing responsibilities.
However, an upbeat Mr Cooke said a 12 to 18 month remediation plan shows Star's willingness to put integrity at the forefront.
"A big part of that is a cultural shift we need to make," he said.
"That's making sure there's a safe environment for people to call out wrong behaviour and a demonstration that when things go wrong we act on it."
A litany of issues including a notorious gang-linked junket operator running an illicit cage at the casino, and that Star broke rules on Chinese debit cards, were revealed during the months-long NSW inquiry.
Mr Cooke vowed that "compliance will be put ahead of profits" under his leadership, adding that "cultural change won't happen overnight".
The hiring of global law firm Allen & Overy as an independent monitor, three new board members, a new chief risk officer, separating the legal risk and company secretary functions, as well as adding 50 staff to risk and compliance, all show a renewed commitment to transparency.
In its bid to have its gaming licences reinstituted, Star has also "permanently exited the junket market, suspended rebate play, we've shut our offshore offices and ceased China Union Pay".
"We've taken some proactive steps so far," he told AAP.
"We're going to work very closely with our regulators to make sure we actually meet their expectations and exceed their expectations."
Mr Cooke will start as Managing Director and CEO on Monday.
