At The Star, we are committed to a safe gambling experience that prioritises the health and well-being of our guests. We aim to take good care of our guests and communities by providing a safe, supportive and inclusive gambling environment. We take a holistic approach that considers our guests, their families and the broader community. We focus on harm prevention, early intervention, and culturally appropriate support for our guests to safely enjoy leisure and entertainment activities.
We want our guests to sustainably enjoy the leisure and entertainment activities we offer. The Star encourages guests to establish healthy relationships with our gambling products and services. Health and wellbeing are our priorities, and we take good care of our guests by providing adequate information and evidence-based initiatives.
Safer gambling means someone who is:
-
gambling within their affordable limits in time and money spent; and
-
keeping a balance between gambling and other aspects of life.
Our commitment is structured by four key strategic pillars that guide our decision-making and action across all levels of the business.
Pillar 1: Enhancing a safer gambling culture
A public health response to gambling harm that considers individuals and the community-at-large is embedded in our culture. All levels of the business are trained to identify risky and problem gambling behaviours proactively and are empowered to raise concerns and act.
Pillar 2: Caring for our guests
We take good care of our guests by ensuring that they have access to adequate information, tools and ability to set limits and manage play. We build trusted connections and facilitate help-seeking for those who are at risk or experiencing challenges with their gambling.
Pillar 3: Leveraging data insights
To better know our guests, we dive into loyalty data and guests’ activities in accordance with our Privacy Policy. We focus our lens to proactively identify risky and problem gambling behaviours and establish robust reporting mechanisms to strengthen our capacity to prevent gambling harm.
Pillar 4: Engaging with our stakeholders
We all have a role in keeping individuals and the community safe from gambling harm. We engage with leading experts, helping professionals, industry peers and community representatives to collaborate in an open dialogue for continuous improvement.
The Star has a long-standing commitment to supporting its guests to make informed decisions about gambling. To deliver a higher standard and go beyond regulators' and communities' expectations, we welcome innovative technology and actively develop new measures and tools to inform and influence safer gambling attitudes and behaviour. We continue to build trusted partnerships fostering collaborative approaches that support our guests to enjoy gambling without costs to their health and wellbeing. By embedding a solid culture of safer gambling and recognising everyone’s unique role, we lead with integrity and care to provide a safe, supportive, and inclusive gambling environment for all.
Where to access StarCare
Information about StarCare can be found online, and at all of The Star’s casinos in Australia.
The StarCare Guest Support Centre features resources to help guests understand how gambling works, including the rules of different games, the odds of winning and tools to set limits. They also offer a place for guests to connect with our Safer Gambling team or to take a voluntary exclusion from gambling.
By allowing guests to set a daily limit, Star Assist helps manage gaming spending and time spent when playing compatible electronic gaming machines.
Star Assist is available for members of The Star Club. Find out more about how to activate Star Assist.
Taking a break can be a good way of ensuring you maintain control over your gambling. PlayBreak helps you keep track of time and balance gambling with other commitments.
We encourage you to take regular breaks from gambling and we endeavour to check in with you if we’ve noticed you gambling continuously for three or more hours.
When playing Electronic Games or Electronic Table Games, you will need to take at least a 15-minute break every three hours. When playing Table Games, we recommend you to take at least a 30-minute break after playing for six hours.
12 hours daily (in a 24-hour period) and 48 hours weekly (in a seven-day period) gambling play time measures are in operation at The Star’s casinos. In QLD properties, 28 hours weekly (in a seven-day period) gambling play measure applies to electronic gaming machines (EGMs). It’s part of how we support Safer Gambling and encourage you to enjoy gambling sustainably.
Throughout your visit at The Star, we will check in on you from time to time. Regular breaks in play are encouraged and if your gambling play spans 12 hours within a 24-hour period, you will be required to take a mandatory break of 24 hours.
In QLD casinos, if your gambling play on EGMs spans 28 hours within a seven-day period, you will be required to take a mandatory break of seven days.
If your gambling play spans 48 hours within a seven-day period, you will be required to take a mandatory break of seven days.
You must remain outside the casino area for the duration of the 24-hour or seven-day break. Account Cards will be suspended, and Account Holder benefits will not be available for the duration of the break.
If you are required to leave the casino area for a 24-hour or seven-day break, and this occurs three times within a six-month period, it will result in a minimum 12-month exclusion.
Player Activity Statement is a record of the time and money spent gambling at The Star’s casinos.
Account Holders of The Star Program can access their Player Activity Statement via The Star App, The Star Club website www.thestarclub.com.au, or via a downloadable request form below or by visiting the Guest Service Desk.
Guests who do not wish to receive marketing materials from The Star can opt out at any time. The Star will not knowingly send or direct any gambling advertising or promotional material to people excluded from our casinos.
Account Holders of The Star Program can update their marketing communication preferences by logging in to The Star App, via The Star Club website www.thestarclub.com.au, at a Kiosk, or by visiting the Guest Service Desk. Account Holders may also opt out of receiving direct marketing communications by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of the email communication they have received.
If you or someone needs support, help is available.
Warning Signs
When gambling is no longer fun and affordable for you or someone you know, it is time to take a closer look and understand the signs of a problem.
Voluntary Exclusion
If you are finding it difficult to cut back, taking a voluntary exclusion, a self-imposed ban, might be for you. Regain Control
Tools and Support
There are a lot of programs and resources available for people to gain the skills and confidence to manage gambling. Find support online.
Connect with Our Safer Gambling Team
The Star has designated trained specialists at each property to support guests and affected others with information and tools to minimise gambling harm. You can access the support at each of The Star Casinos, or simply to request a call back from our Safer Gambling Team.
Gambling Help Online
1800 858 858
gamblinghelponline.org.au
Free online support for anyone affected by gambling.
Available 24/7 across Australia
Gambling Help QLD
Free, confidential gambling support founded by the Queensland Government.
GambleAware NSW
GambleAware works towards zero gambling-related harm in NSW through research, education and support for individuals and communities.
When gambling stops being fun and harder to cut back, taking a break by choosing to self-exclude can be the first step towards regaining control.
Our voluntary exclusion program is facilitated by Safer Gambling team available 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the StarCare Guest Support Centre. A guest who chooses to take a break from gambling can self-exclude from all of The Star’s casinos in one request. Simply approach a security officer or a Gaming Manager and ask to be self-excluded.
If a person does not wish to come to the casino to self-exclude themselves, they have the option of having the exclusion processed at a nominated Gambling Help Service centre. Find your nearest Gambling Help Service centre.
You can commence the self-exclusion process online by completing this application.
Please note:
-
The form takes approximately 15 minutes to complete.
-
The application cannot be saved and resumed later.
-
Upon receipt of signed exclusion forms and required documentation, a self-exclusion request can take up to 24 hours to come into effect.
-
It is strongly recommended that prior to completing this application, you discuss this matter with your legal advisor, counsellor and members of your family if you have not already done so.
Our third-party exclusion program provides family members, friends, and others the opportunity to apply for a review of a guest’s gambling behaviour if they are concerned about the effects gambling may have on the individual or others.
While it is not a requirement that the individual be made aware of the application by the third-party, we highly recommend you discuss the option of voluntary exclusion with the individual before submitting the application where possible.
When a guest chooses to self-exclude, we have additional resources and support, including:
-
Facial recognition technology that enhances the efforts of the Safer Gambling team to identify self-excluded individuals if they attempt to enter our gaming licence areas;
-
Engaging with leading experts and helping professionals to better support individuals who have chosen to take a break from gambling.
Our commitment includes an effective risk and compliance framework and a clearly articulated ‘risk appetite’ aligned to related strategy. The Star adopts the Three Lines of Accountability model to ensure that specific and distinct roles exist for managing its compliance obligations and providing independent oversight to ensure public health and harm prevention approaches are embedded in every decision-making process across the business. This model clearly articulates risk ownership accountabilities (Line 1) with functionally independent oversight (Line 2 – Risk) and assurance (Line 3 – Internal Audit and Assurance).
Our commitment to Safer Gambling also extends to community, academic, government and regulatory bodies to collectively establish a proactive, evidence-based and culturally appropriate approach that reflects the community and regulators’ expectations.
The Star’s regulators include the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation QLD (OLGR QLD), Liquor & Gaming NSW (L&GNSW), and NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC), which sets standards that The Star must meet.
These standards include but are not limited to:
RG Check is an accreditation program created by the Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) based on its Responsible Gambling Index. The RGC is an independent non-profit organisation dedicated to preventing harm from gambling. The program offers gaming operators the opportunity of an independent endorsement of the quality of their responsible gambling programs.
The Star is proud to announce that all of The Star’s casinos achieved the RG Check accreditation in 2024.
As part of our commitment to safe gambling experiences, The Star developed the Safer Gambling Capability and Competency Framework to ensure that all team members are suitably competent in their role and can effectively meet the requirements associated with Safer Gambling practices. The training program is designed to prepare all of The Star’s employees to promote Safer Gambling and proactively prevent or minimise gambling harm.
Safer Gambling training is mandatory for all guest-facing team members, management and leaders, including the Board of Directors and executives.
The Star’s Safer Gambling training programs support employees to:
-
Learn what safer gambling means and gain an understanding of the signs and impact of gambling-related harm.
-
Gain knowledge of the resources and support available to guests, affected others and employees regarding safe gambling-related attitudes and behaviours; and
-
Effectively communicate with guests to dispel gambling-related myths and facilitate culturally appropriate referrals to support services available in the community.
The Star incorporates a range of training approaches tailored to the needs of our diverse talents, including online training systems, gallery sessions, workshops, webinars, and expert panels. Training evaluations and regular employee surveys are conducted to support continuous improvement of the training programs.