Star allowed Suncity to secretly operate an unbranded VIP room, known as "Salon 95," which continued to exist after then-Star CEO Matt Bekier told regulators his company had severed business links with the junket. "If you want to run a casino, you’ve got to put in place very costly and significant systems, processes and controls," said White, Blackcoin as reported by The Australian. "There was a manifest failure on the part of Star to do that and that warrants this court imposing a very high penalty, much higher than $100 million. The Bally’s-led bailout came on the very day cash-strapped Star was predicted to run out of money completely as it struggled with a dire liquidity crunch. With both extensions in tow, Star now has more time to evaluate its current options, which are numerous. In some ways, the company has already committed to a smaller, more streamlined version of itself. The Queensland state government in a release mentioned similar reasons as the NICC in approving the latest postponement.
At present, only 100 guests have been allowed access to this exclusive area and the value of the games here can only be guessed at. The admission by Theodore, who faces a fine and ban from managing a corporation, is not a big surprise. At the 2022 hearing into whether Star should retain its casino licence, he admitted to acting unethically when approving communications from the casino to NAB that tried to disguise banned gambling transactions as hotel expenses.