Ann: Commencement of inquiry in NSW, page-46

This whole saga has been an absolute disaster. I sold out a while ago and used the capital loss, despite that this has been the single most painful investment I have made in my investing career. There is obviously a strong political will to close/hinder all casinos in Australia. When you look at the behaviour of qantas and zero resultant consequences, one has to wonder about the politics driving some of these decisions. This was a highly profitable company with top quality assets and lucrative licences, whilst the losses have looked more like a speculative loss making tech company gone bad.

Robbie Cooke and Co really need to look at the underlying property values now and maximising returns for shareholders. There must be an argument that it would make financial sense to close the Star Sydney and retain the monopoly in Queensland. The question is, how much of the $800 million will the property fetch if the casino is defunct.