Star Entertainment has sent in its answer to the Bell Two probe. Now, it will wait for the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) to decide what will happen to Star Sydney.
 report for the year
 Star announced on Friday, September 27, that it has "lodged its response" to the NICC's show cause notice from September 13.  The notification listed several compliance violations that were found throughout the examination.  It asked Star to explain why it shouldn't be punished for its mistakes.

 Star issued its FY24 results and a business update on Thursday, September 26. In the post, the company said it would "seek to implement relevant recommendations" that may emerge.

 Star said on Friday that it had "also made further submissions to the NICC in respect to several matters" in addition to the show cause notice.  These include "Star Sydney's suitability," the company's "progress in respect of its remediation plan," its financial situation, and its "plans to address financial issues on an ongoing basis."  The latter may have been a reference to Star's recent AU$200 million (US$138 million/£103.2 million/€123.7 million) debt facility arrangement.

 The NICC announced on Friday that it had gotten the answer.  The agency said that "there is no set timetable" for making its final decision, but it did say that the decision would come "sometime in October."

 There are a number of possible outcomes: Star might keep its conditional NSW licence, or it could lose it completely.  But even if it isn't taken away, the operator will probably have to pay higher fines and follow stricter rules.

 Star started trading on the ASX again on Friday after being stopped for weeks, and the reaction was surprising.  By the end of the day, shares had dropped 44%, losing over half of the company's market worth.  The stock is now around $0.25, which is a new low and a long way from its all-time high of over $5.

 Bell Two has been a disaster for Star.
 It's hard to say how bad 2024 has been for Star while everyone waits for the NICC's decision.  When Bell Two started in February, the business was already knee-deep in fixing things from the first Bell investigation in 2022.

 The NICC didn't believe that Star had made much progress up until that moment, and their gut feeling turned out to be right.  During the spring, public hearings showed that the corporation and the regulator were not getting along.  Its executives had also created a bad work climate where completing responsibilities was more important than fixing the underlying issues.

 The NICC made two volumes of the report available to the public on August 30.  They are over 500 pages long and show a dark side of how Star Sydney does business.  In the end, the report came to the same conclusion as the first: Star is still not fit to be licensed in NSW.

 McCann wants to stop the leadership carousel.
 The investigation led to the firing of former chairman David Foster and former CEO Robbie Cooke.  Many more employees have also departed the company.  In June, Star hired Steve McCann, a well-known industry veteran, to be CEO in order to fix things.

 When Crown Resorts, Star's main competitor, was in a similar regulatory bind, McCann was the CEO.  He played a big role in helping Crown sell to Blackstone Group in 2022.  McCann has warned that it's too early to think about M&A in response to rumours that Star would go the same way.

 The Bell Two study said that McCann's appointment was a good thing for both Star and the NICC.  But in the company's FY24 report, McCann didn't hold back when talking about the problems that were coming up.

 He remarked, "We have come up with a number of ways to boost business performance and cash flow, as well as give the company more cash on hand."  "However, these plans need time and flexibility to be put into action.  As we work on these projects, the board and management team are still focused on showing that we are fit to hold our casino licenses and earning back the trust and support of our regulators and the community as a whole, all while trying to increase shareholder value.