A senior Star casino manager has told an inquiry clients' gambling charges were sometimes disguised as "accommodation" on bills, on the same day the company's chief executive resigned, effective immediately.
Star's regulatory manager, David Aloi, has been giving evidence at an Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) inquiry into the company's suitability to run it's Sydney casino.
Today, he told the hearing he was uncomfortable with the arrangement which swiped the bank cards of guests at The Star hotel and transferred money into their gambling accounts.
That system was set up for guests who banked with China Union Pay (CUP), which does not allow their cardholders to use funds for gaming.
The inquiry was told the "work-around" managed to avoid the scrutiny of CUP for some time as the transactions were disguised as accommodation charges.
This evidence came after the announcement this morning Star Entertainment Group's managing director and CEO, Matt Bekier, would resign from the board effective immediately.
Chairman John O'Neill said Mr Bekier told the board he was resigning because he was "accountable for the effectiveness and adequacy of the company's processes, policies, people and culture".
"Mr Bekier said the right thing to do was for him to take responsibility," Mr O'Neill said.
The public inquiry into Star's suitability to run its casino is in its third week and several damning revelations about operations at the Pyrmont venue have been disclosed.
Mr Aloi today told Commissioner Adam Bell he raised concerns to his seniors about disguising gambling charges as accommodation charges but at one stage was just told to "get it done".
"Did you view it as an artifice?" Naomi Sharp SC asked.
"Yes" he replied.
Mr Aloi said he also asked the National Australia Bank (NAB) account manager for The Star if the system was permissible who said he "couldn't see a problem".
He said his concerns were soon abated when his seniors led him to believe there was nothing wrong with identifying the transactions as "accommodation" as the EFTPOS terminal was located in a hotel.
Commissioner Bell pointed out this was wrong as merchant codes for EFTPOS machines are used to identify the service being provided, not the terminal location.
Mr Aloi later admitted he had misled ILGA in a 2021 letter which claimed the regulator knew The Star was diverting CUP funds of hotel guests to the casino.
He told the inquiry he couldn't in fact recall if ILGA had ever been told about the arrangement and after much questioning, was forced to admit the regulator would not approve something that breached the rules.
Around 2019, CUP started making enquiries with The Star, through NAB, about transactions at the hotel it had flagged as suspicious.
The inquiry was told Mr Aloi was sent an email from another casino employee with a suggested response to NAB that he agreed was "misleading".
That response failed to mention that customers had spent money on services that did not include hotel accommodation.
Last week, the inquiry was told that a high roller had spent $11 million on a China Union Pay debit card in one day at The Star.
Risk governance expert Elizabeth Sheedy told the ABC more heads at The Star have to roll, particularly within the risk and audit committees of the company.
"Issues were swept under the carpet and not resolved," Professor Sheedy from Macquarie University said.
"It would not surprise me if Star were deemed unsuitable to hold a casino licence [at the end of this inquiry]."
Last week, the inquiry was told Mr Beiker rubbished findings by KPMG that Star had no process to identify money laundering or terrorism financing risks.
Professor Sheedy says such a hostile reaction to criticism was unacceptable.
"It appears he's done a very bad job of leading this company and he should not be allowed to keep his entitlements. "
