On June 1, Star Entertainment Group welcomed invited guests to its Star Casino in Sydney, Australia, as Covid-19 restrictions were eased in New South Wales. The main gaming floor remained closed to the public, with customers permitted by reservation only, according to Inside Asian Gaming.
Food and beverage outlets increased their capacity from 10 people to 50, based on space that will allow proper social distancing requirements.
Additional visitation will be permitted across other areas of the Star complex, including the Darling and Star Grand hotels, some restaurants and luxury shopping outlets. Star said its Covid-Safe Operating Plan has been endorsed by two of Australia’s leading public health and infectious disease experts.
Some 1,000 staff returned to work last Monday. Star had been forced to furlough 95 percent of its 9,000-strong workforce across NSW and Queensland.
“We want to thank the NSW government for their support,” said Star Group CEO Matt Bekier. “The business and human impact of the Covid-19 crisis has been extraordinary.
“We have attempted to ease financial stress for our people through paid pandemic leave, a targeted hardship program for the most seriously affected, early access to annual leave and long service leave, plus JobKeeper payments.
“However, having people back to work is the biggest step we can take. It will be a gradual process. From Monday we will have the opportunity to return more team members to their jobs.
“It will still leave us operating at significantly lower than usual levels and operations will not be materially profitable at this stage. However, the primary objective is returning our team members to work and re-engaging with guests.”
In related news, Star has signed a new 20-year agreement with the NSW government to pay a flat 29 percent tax rate on domestic mass gaming revenues and maintain exclusivity on Electronic Gaming Machines in the Sydney market. Star Sydney will continue to be the exclusive casino provider of EGMs under the current casino licensing arrangements, and will be entitled to financial compensation from the government should EGMs be installed at Crown Sydney at any time until June 2041.
That means James Packer’s $2.4billion Crown casino, now under construction in Barangaroo, won’t have a single pokie machine.
