One of the stranger comments in the otherwise hardline response to the Sydney Star casino report by the head of the NSW Independent Casino Commission was that Star threw its “moral compass out the window”.

The observation by Philip Crawford (to the journalist who did so much to expose the misconduct at Star and Crown, Nick McKenzie) is based on a risible assumption that Star had any moral compass to begin with.

Star and Crown have been slowly but surely exposed as two of the most malignant corporate actors in Australian history — exploitation of gamblers, links with organised crime, money laundering on an industrial scale, contempt for regulations and regulators, tax avoidance. They’ve been exposed because of the outstanding work of McKenzie and other journalists — not via regulators or governments.