Reporting of assaults at The Star casino

Full report - Reporting rates of assaults at The Star casino by licensed premises staff (PDF, 324.2 KB) 

Release date: Thursday, 24 November 2016

There is no evidence that staff at The Star casino have become less willing to report assaults to police since the lockout law reforms in February 2014.

The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) examined all 278 non-domestic assaults recorded as having occurred at The Star casino between January 2012 and June 2016.

Each report was classified according to whether it was reported to police by staff at the casino or by some other person. BOCSAR then examined the proportion of assaults at The Star that were reported by staff.

In the 24 months prior to the lockout law reforms, BOCSAR found that 56.5% of assaults reported to police were reported by staff. In the 24 months following the reforms, 60.0% of assaults reported to police were reported by staff.   

BOCSAR also examined the profile of assaults recorded by police as having occurred at The Star.

Patrons (62.2%) and security guards (21.9%) were the common victims, although a significant proportion (7.2%) involved assaults on taxi-drivers.

More than three quarters of the offenders were patrons at the casino. The average offender was a male aged 25 years and a majority were proceeded against by police to court.

Most (70%) of the assaults reported to police occurred inside the casino premises; and most of these assaults occurred in one of three locations: at one of the casino bars, Marquee nightclub or on the gaming floor.

Commenting on the findings, the director of BOCSAR, Dr Don Weatherburn, said the results were reassuring.

“No-one expects every minor bump and scuffle to end up in a police assault report but we would have been concerned if the proportion of assault incidents reported to police by staff at The Star had declined.

“As it is we remain of the view that the growth in assaults at The Star since the lockout has up to this point been fairly small.”  

Further enquiries: Dr Don Weatherburn  02 8346 1100

Copies of the report: www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au