It also faces a looming financial penalty from the financial crimes regulator Austrac, in addition to a $15m fine issued by the NSW government casino regulator late last year. "It would appear that once you start operating a clean casino it’s not nearly as profitable," Sheedy says. The casino operator has experienced a sharp decline in high rollers from Asia in the aftermath of a NSW inquiry that found Star facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in banned transactions, exposing it to money laundering. Without effective reform of local gambling venues and online wagering, casinos may try to mount an argument for less effective regulation. That would be an admission that their "tourism" attractiveness has waned. It’s also a powerful argument to speed up the transition of effective regulation to all gambling operators.