Embattled casino company Star Entertainment can survive a cash crunch exacerbating its other regulatory issues, the group's incoming chief executive says.
Steve McCann told the company's annual general meeting at The Star Brisbane on Thursday the company had made progress on a range of important issues but revenue had continued to decline significantly amid challenges implementing cashless play.
Star's transformation and external advice and assistance has added to costs, said Mr McCann, whose appointment as CEO and managing director remains subject to regulatory approvals.
Chairwoman Anne Ward said Star had significant short-term liquidity issues and financial pressures, but its directors believed it could continue as a going concern if a range of matters could be addressed.
This includes meeting various conditions to allow it to access two $100 million debt facilities, securing additional sources of liquidity and progressing plans for longer-term funding.
Star incurred an operating loss of $18 million in the September quarter, with its revenue dropping 18 per cent to $351 million.
It had $149 million in cash available as of September 30, the company announced on October 29.
Company executives are working to raise $150 million in subordinated capital, which would allow it to access the second $100 million in debt.
Revenue is down 15.5 per cent since August, when Star was required to implement cashless and mandatory carded play at its Sydney casino and phasing that in had proven to be challenging.
"With our Sydney implementation, new hardware has had to be created by our third-party suppliers, new software has had to be created, so we are learning along the way," Ms Ward said.
Mr McCann said the requirement Star implement cashless play had created an unlevel playing field, leading to lost market share.
Ms Ward, who became Star's chairwoman in April, told shareholders the company was working to rebuild trust and healthy relationship with regulators - and she knows they have heard that that before.
"But I assure you we have already taken action," Ms Ward.
Star has been in turmoil ever since 2021 when it was revealed its casinos had been used for large-scale money laundering and criminal infiltration of junkets.
Senior executives who came onboard in 2022 to clean up the culture took a combative approach with regulators and departed in March amid a second government inquiry into whether Star should retain its NSW casino license.
Ms Ward said a new decentralised operating model, in which each casino is overseen by a local CEO, would ensure closer oversight and accountability for operations.
But she said that true cultural transformation would take time and a deep commitment to embed lasting change.
All resolutions put forward to shareholders were approved, but the remuneration report received just 56.9 per cent of votes, under the 75 per cent required to avoid a first strike.
If that happens again in 2025, it could trigger a board spill to determine whether every member of the board has to stand for re-election.
