The Star Entertainment Posts $307.3m FY26 Loss, Going Concern Doubt Remains

By Daniel Harper, Editor-in-Chief
Published 31 August 2026

The Star Entertainment Group, operator of The Star Sydney and The Star Gold Coast and casino manager of The Star Brisbane, reported its results for the year ended 30 June 2026 on 31 August. The group recorded a statutory net loss of $307.3 million, smaller than the $428 million loss of FY25, on normalised revenue of $1,101.0 million, down from $1,125 million.

It is the first full-year result under Group CEO Bruce Mathieson Jnr, who took the role on 16 December 2025 after US operator Bally’s Corporation and Investment Holdings Pty Ltd (as trustee for the BMG Discretionary Trust) completed a $300 million equity investment in November 2025.

The numbers

Normalised revenue: $1,101m (FY25: $1,125m).
Normalised EBITDA: loss of $16.1m (FY25: loss of $76.2m).
Normalised net loss after tax: $158.9m (FY25: $162m).
Significant items after tax: $144.3m (FY25: $105m).
Statutory net loss: $307.3m (FY25: $428m).

No dividend was declared. The Star said slots revenue grew at all properties in the second half, while table games revenue at The Star Sydney continued to decline. Group corporate costs fell by $75 million in FY26, and the annualised fourth-quarter run rate of $178 million is $111 million, or 38%, below FY25.

Cash, debt and Queen’s Wharf

The Star held $267 million in cash and cash equivalents at 30 June. In May it refinanced its debt with a US$390 million secured term loan from WhiteHawk Capital Partners, due May 2029, adding about $130 million of liquidity. On 31 March it completed the first stage of its exit from the Queen’s Wharf Brisbane joint venture, which released its $700 million guarantee over the venture’s debt. The second stage, which consolidates its Gold Coast interests, is expected by 31 March 2027 at the latest.

Early signs in FY27

Combined revenue at The Star Sydney and The Star Gold Coast was $92.4 million in July 2026, up 6% on July 2025 and 8% above the fourth-quarter monthly average. The company said revenue at its principal properties reached its low point in the third quarter of FY26 and expects to start building cash in FY27, before non-operating items.

Mathieson said the business had moved to a property-led operating model and described returning to suitability as “critical to our future”.

Going concern doubt is still there

The accounts again carry a material uncertainty over The Star’s ability to continue as a going concern. The company lists four interdependent issues:

The size and timing of the AUSTRAC civil penalty and other provisions.
Whether revenue growth and cost cuts in FY27 deliver enough profit to meet debt covenants.
Restoration of The Star Sydney’s casino licence and withdrawal of the deferred suspension of The Star Gold Coast’s licence.
Its ability to keep transactional banking services.

At the time of the result, The Star Sydney’s licence remained suspended under a NICC-appointed manager, and the Gold Coast suspension was deferred to 30 September 2026.

Why it matters to Australian players

The Star runs casino floors in Sydney, on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane, and the outcome of its licence reviews decides whether it keeps running them itself or under external managers. Its remediation plan covers the risk management, anti-money laundering and governance failures identified by the NSW and Queensland inquiries. Our page on online versus land-based gambling compares those venue rules with the online market, and the Australian gambling statistics page puts casino spending in context with pokies and wagering.

For table game players, the house edge is the same whether the hand is dealt in Pyrmont or online; our guides to blackjack odds and roulette odds list the figures by rule set.

Sources

Header photo: Barangaroo from Pyrmont Bridge by MDRX, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.