The fate of Star Casino, which now has been determined to be unsuitable to hold a casino licence in both Sydney and Brisbane, might have been very different if it had a media company in its corner.

Inquiries into both Star and Crown — to which state governments were reluctantly dragged — and the outrageous misconduct and crime occurring in their casinos were only initiated because of extensive media reporting, primarily by Nine’s Nick McKenzie (of course, it had been over a decade since James Packer departed Nine, in the wake of the 2006 media ownership reforms).

What if, say, Star had News Corp in its corner not merely to launch its standard holy war against McKenzie’s reporting, but to threaten any government that might take steps against Star, to warn of the massive job losses that might arise from finding it was unsuitable, to portray attacks on casinos as attacks on the great Aussie tradition of having a punt, an attack on the tourism industry, and an attack on the freedom of adults to enjoy themselves however they like without harming others?