The Star Entertainment Group says its business interruption policy wording provides “reasonable” grounds for pursuing a disputed claim with its insurer over coverage for shut-downs forced this year.

The casino operator halted its gaming activities in Sydney, the Gold Coast and Brisbane on March 23 as governments ordered shutdowns to control the COVID-19 outbreak.

CEO Matt Bekier told an earnings briefing last week the company is still pursuing the matter against its insurers, after advising the market in April it had lodged a claim under its policy.

“This is obviously not a slam dunk, but we think we have a reasonable position,” he said.

“This is not a pandemic claim, because we have an insurance policy wording that creates very specific opportunities around the nature of the shutdown that was forced on us. So on that basis we think we have got a reasonable prospect.”

A filing with the courts has not been finalised, but the company is seeking declaratory relief, a spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au. The Star did not provide further details of the insurance cover.

Mr Bekier says the company’s normalised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 12.1% in the eight months to the end of February, and growth had been accelerating.

By the end of the financial year EBITDA was down 22.8% to $430 million and the group reported a statutory net loss of $95 million.