SkyCity to settle Adelaide casino probe with over $14.7 million penalty (updated)

Skycity Entertainment

19/06/2026 01:51

Adds share moves
June 19 (Reuters) - New Zealand's SkyCity Entertainment SKC.NZ said on Friday its Adelaide unit will pay an A$21 million ($14.73 million) penalty after reaching an agreement with South Australia's gambling regulator over breaches. 
     
Here are the details:
The group, and its unit that holds the license for its Adelaide casino, entered a non-binding agreement with the Commissioner for Liquor and Gambling in South Australia to finally resolve all regulatory matters raised in an independent review into the casino.
Shares of the casino operator surged as much as 16.5% after it announced an agreement that would resolve the nearly four-year-long probe, compared with the broader market's .NZ50 0.4% gain
In August last year, the review had highlighted the company's failures in casino management and compliance, while also finding that the operator had since made sufficient changes to be deemed suitable to hold its licence.
In addition to the penalty, the agreement requires SkyCity Adelaide to implement a series of governance and compliance reforms, including establishing a majority-independent local board, appointing a locally accountable chief executive, and conducting annual reviews by an independent compliance auditor.
The measures also include a ban on junkets, a phased limit on cash transactions above A$4,999 and expanded powers for the regulator to issue binding directions and oversee certain operations.
The 2025 Brian Martin review also drew on a case brought by Australia's money-laundering regulator, AUSTRAC, against the casino, with a court in 2024 ordering SkyCity Adelaide to pay A$67 million after finding it had weak anti-money-laundering controls and failed to properly monitor high‑risk customers.
     
($1 = 1.4253 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Shruti Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and Rashmi Aich)
((Shruti.Agarwal@thomsonreuters.com))