Star Entertainment : 30 May 2020 - The Star Sydney to expand operations from Monday

MEDIA RELEASE

THE STAR SYDNEY TO EXPAND OPERATIONS FROM MONDAY

Saturday, 30 May 2020

The Star Sydney will return more staff to work, increase the capacity of fine dining restaurants but limit access to its casino to a restricted number of invited guests under a new operating model that aligns with the latest NSW Government health orders and will be implemented from Monday 1 June.

As part of the latest easing of COVID-19 restrictions, The Star will operate selected food and beverage outlets within the casino zone of the precinct at up to 50 people per outlet. The capacity of each outlet will be determined by social distancing requirements. Bookings will be available only to invited members, and diners will have access to gaming facilities.

Additional visitation will be permitted across other areas of The Star complex, including The Darling and The Star Grand hotels, already opened fine dining restaurants Sokyo and Black, other food venues and luxury shopping outlets. The Star will ensure strict adherence to social distancing and hygiene requirements across the entire precinct.

As part of its submissions to Government, The Star also lodged a COVID Safe Operating Plan. It was prepared in consultation with, and endorsed by, two of Australia's leading public health and infectious disease experts, Dr Paul Griffin and Dr David Heslop.

Key elements of The Star's latest operating model include:

• No public access to the casino. Bookings within the casino zone will be by invitation only, extended to a small percentage of members from The Star's loyalty program.
• Signature dining restaurants will be open to the general public, but bookings are essential. The number of seated diners will increase from 10 to a maximum of 50 dependant on social distancing compliance. Sokyo has been operating under the former 10-diner limit since initially reopening on May 15. Black reopened on May 22.
• An expansion in the number of team members returning to work in Sydney. More than 95% of The Star Entertainment Group's total workforce of around 9000 across NSW and Queensland were temporarily stood down following property shutdowns in March. From June 1, The Star will have had the opportunity to increase its workforce to around 1000 in Sydney.

The Star Entertainment Group CEO Matt Bekier welcomed the latest easing of restrictions in NSW.

"We want to thank the NSW Government for their support," he said. "The business and human impact of the COVID-19 crisis has been extraordinary.

"We have attempted to ease financial stress for our people through paid pandemic leave, a targeted hardship program for the most seriously affected, early access to annual leave and long service leave, plus JobKeeper payments.

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"However, having people back to work is the biggest step we can take. It will be a gradual process. From Monday we will have the opportunity to return more team members to their jobs.

"It will still leave us operating at significantly lower than usual levels and operations will not be materially profitable at this stage. However, the primary objective is returning our team members to work and re-engaging with guests."

Visitation to the casino in recent years has been around 11 million per annum, an average of approximately 30,000 a day.

"The tourism, hospitality and entertainment sectors have been decimated over the past couple of months," Mr Bekier said. "The sooner we can all return to previous levels of operation, the better.

"However, it must also be in a responsible manner, and our plans are aligned with precautions the NSW Government wants in place as restrictions are gradually unwound.

"We will work diligently to ensure all health and social distancing regulations are promoted and enforced. That will hopefully accelerate the process to further expansion of operations for our properties in NSW and Queensland."

For further information:

Peter Jenkins

General Manager, Media & Communications The Star Entertainment Group

0439 015 292

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