Vegas glitz may be a gamble too far

Vegas glitz may be a gamble too far
Matthew Moore, Sean Nicholls.

In shedding its image as an RSL club on steroids, the new-look casino is testing its luck, Matthew Moore and Sean Nicholls report.

It was one of Sydney's great parties of 2009, with US supergroup the Black Eyed Peas playing for the A-list guests at the Astral restaurant in what was then Star City casino.

As the crowd heaved, the Peas belted out their hit, Party All the Time. ''I would drink and go out, out with my crew / party, party all the time, yup that's what I do …''

Among the revellers were two of the casino's newest executives - Americans Larry Mullin and Sid Vaikunta, who appeared to be enthusiastically adhering to the instructions pounding from the speakers.


At a reputed cost approaching $1 million, the Black Eyed Peas after-party at Astral has gone down in the annals of casino history as a watershed night.

For Mullin and Vaikunta, it marked the moment Sydney's casino came of age, shedding its image as an RSL club on steroids by declaring itself a genuine international nightspot with the power to draw some of the world's hottest celebrities.

Long-serving casino staffers were less jubilant watching the new management throw their first big party and cheerfully let the booze flow in pursuit of a good time for all.

For many at Star City, it was an early signal of the profound shift in the organisation's culture the Americans were pushing, a shift they believe led inexorably to last week's sacking of Vaikunta, the Star's energetic managing director, for what the company cryptically calls his ''behaviour in a social work setting''.

Three years after Vaikunta and a bevy of American casino colleagues flew in to reverse the Star's flagging fortunes, the success of the imported-experts experiment hangs in the balance.

Just what Vaikunta, the $2 million man, did to get the sack is the subject of an inquiry by the same embarrassed body that just weeks ago found the casino operator ''a suitable person'' to run the Star for the next five years.

Already the minister responsible, George Souris, has questioned the casino's compliance with gaming laws in relation to what it told authorities about the matter.

Those remarks ratchet up the pressure on the Casino, Liquor and Gaming Control Authority chairman, Chris Sidoti, to find out precisely what's been going on at the casino, what Vaikunta did, when he did it and, most importantly, when the Star management first learnt about it, who they told and when.

While Sidoti's report gave the Star the green light, it's no clean bill of health. Indeed, the report is peppered with warnings that should alarm Echo Entertainment, a new company spun off from Tabcorp to run the Star and its other casinos.

Sidoti highlighted the fact that in nearly two decades of regular reviews this was the first time present and former staff had come forward to warn that the casino was bending and breaking the rules.

He said the Star's investigations manager conducted a series of mock interviews with staff called to appear before the inquiry and had referred to ''acceptable answers'' in a report he had prepared for his managers. Sidoti likened this practice to coaching witness and warned the casino needed to be ''scrupulous to avoid any perception that witnesses have been prepared contrary to ethical obligations''.

The Herald spoke to several supervisors and other casino staff who confirmed accounts of the rapid change in culture at the casino that Sidoti's report details and how the push to maximise revenue had become the driving force in the business.

''We seem to be sliding back to the old ways of just a cultural thing of revenues first, behaviours second,'' one former manager told Gail Furness SC who ran the inquiry for Sidoti.

''A pit manager [of eight tables] told me 'the culture had changed horrendously','' Furness reported.

''Another current manager told me that she also thought the casino was on 'a downward slide'. Staff gave examples of 'favourable treatment for players of value, responsible service of alcohol not being followed and the casino being less concerned about breaches'.''

Staff running gambling tables were writing fewer incident reports with gaming rules being applied more ''flexibly'', part of a cultural change to boost revenue especially from well-heeled punters flying in from Asia.

In an effort to reverse a slump in revenue, the casino has invested in a largely completed $870 million renovation and the American management team has been imported to get the business to service that thumping debt.

They've brought with them an approach that has worked in the US, with Mullin and Vaikunta importing international stars including George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio and Snoop Dogg to give the Star a global presence. ''They think it's Atlantic City or Vegas,'' one former senior employee said. ''We'll live on the edge and people will love us. You don't worry about regulations because that's how you do it in America.''

A spokeswoman for the Star said management ''has deliberately adopted a different approach to its operations'' but said ''it cannot be properly criticised for focusing on customer service and it does not necessarily follow that such a focus will result in the casino operator not complying with its obligations''.

A handful of American managers have already left, and the casino said there were now only two Americans in the management team. Despite that, their influence remains paramount. To ensure customers smile when they arrive, the American leadership adopted the five Fs as their guiding philosophy: fast, friendly, fresh, fun and focused.

Security guards have been replaced by welcome staff and there has been a drop in the number of people refused entry, thanks in part to a change in dress standards where thongs, shorts and singlets are now sufficiently elegant attire in which to gamble.

Long-serving women employees have complained fast, friendly and fresh is also behind the push to force them into short skirts and high heels as they serve drinks to punters at the tables.

Mullin was the chief operating officer at Borgata casino in Atlantic City where he helped boost earnings by marketing his cocktail waitresses as ''Borgata Babes'' whose employment contracts required them to keep their hourglass figures if they wanted to keep their jobs.

After six years at the casino working on gaming tables as a dealer and supervisor, Tim Roach quit a fortnight ago. A former union delegate, he said his file has been marked ''not for rehire'' and he had nothing to lose by speaking out. He said there had been ''a massive culture shift'' since he first began work when Jim L'Estrange was chief executive.

''We remembered Jim used to come down and cook once a month. He basically held the same role as Sid did but you'd see him cooking with the other line cooks flipping burgers … I don't think Sid ever walked into that room,'' he said.

When the new managers first arrived there was a lot of excitement but that had long since gone with struggles over working conditions and fights for long-term staff to retain shifts many had worked for years.

One woman who has just quit the Star after more than a decade said it's now a ''very different, very American'' culture with a lot of new ''very young and attractive staff''.

Changes to rosters are also forcing out single mothers like her who have limited childcare options to cover the 4am starts. ''They are trying to turn it into Vegas, instil that culture and it's not going down well; they are in Australia not the States.''



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