What's lifting the Star (ASX:SGR) share price today?

Australians gamble billions of dollars per year on poker machines.

Bernd Struben

Author bio Bernd Struben earned his BA in economics from the University of Michigan in 1991, with post-graduate studies in environmental economics at the University of Connecticut. Over the years he’s written about and analysed the tourism industry in the Caribbean; Europe’s commercial real estate markets; and, since moving to Australia in 2010, global and Aussie share markets. Bernd studies geopolitical and macroeconomic trends, alongside sector and company specific data, to gauge what he believes could be tomorrow's best investments. In his free time, you might find Bernd at the beach with his family or working on his next science fiction novel. Areas of expertise Australian and global share markets Macroeconomic and geopolitical trends Real estate Education Economics, University of Michigan Favorite investment quote "The four most dangerous words in investing are: 'This time it's different." — Sir John Templeton

Published August 13, 2021 1:42 pm AEST

The Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: SGR) share price is lifting off today, up 5% in early afternoon trading.

This comes as the New South Wales government is set to debate a potential increase in the number of poker machines for Sydney's Star casino.

active person star jumping amid city landscape — Image source: Getty Images

Why the extra pokies for the Sydney Star casino?

Star's share price bump could be aligned with the news that up to 1,000 extra pokies may soon be given the green light for its Sydney asset.

But these won't be new pokies. Meaning they'll be moved from smaller, regional gambling outlets in other parts of New South Wales.

That's because the government remains concerned about money laundering issues tied to gambling in general and Crown specifically.

As the Sydney Morning Herald reports:

The NSW government is likely to support the transfer of poker machines licences to the Star because it believes the casino can be more highly regulated than some smaller venues in regional NSW.

The New South Wales government is scheduled to debate the proposal on Monday.

Of the 96,000 registered poker machines spread over 4,000 locations in New South Wales, the Star currently has only 1,500. Should the proposal pass on Monday, that figure could almost double to 2,500.

Star share price snapshot

Star's share price has managed to navigate around the wider issues of money laundering plaguing the gambling industry over the past year. In the past 12 months Star's share have gained 29%, surpassing the 25% gains posted by the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).

Year-to-date the Star share price has struggled, down 6% in 2021.

Star pays a 2.7% dividend yield, fully franked.

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