SkyCity Casino Re-Shutters Amid Executive Shuffle

Elouise Spencer - 23 November 2020

SkyCity Casino Adelaide, including the recently completed 120-room EOS by SkyCity luxury hotel development scheduled to open in late November, will resulting from new restrictions very recently announced by the South Australian Government, be closed from November 19 up until midnight on November 24. This obviously means that the grand opening of the casino’s luxury hotel expansion development will be delayed by nearly a week.

Parent operator SkyCity Entertainment Group also recently announced major reshufflings to its executive senior management team, with several of those in top management about to stand down from their current roles, and several more preparing to retire.

Several Top Management Changes

A major change for the casino group will be the November 30 retirement and stepping down of Chief Executive Officer Graeme Stephens, who will be succeeded by new appointment and named replacement Michael Ahearne.

Stephens has already stepped down from the position of CEO but will reportedly remain on board up until Nov. 30 in a supporting role for the recently appointed Ahearne. The latter steps into the position of CEO following his promotion from his previous role of chief operating officer. He officially took over the CEO duties from Stephens on Nov. 16.

Two more major changes are the upcoming exits of current Chief Financial Officer Rob Hamilton, and current Chief Marketing Officer Liza McNally. Hamilton and McNally have both resigned from their respective positions and will make their respective exits on February 26 and March 31 next year. SkyCity has said that it will now be up to Ahearne to establish a new executive structure and top management hierarchy for the casino group.

About SkyCity’s New CEO

Ahearne is a great fit for the position of CEO, SkyCity has said of their latest big appointment. Having overseen SkyCity’s New Zealand and Australia operations in his capacity of chief operating officer since December 2017, the operator said it considered Ahearn a strong internal candidate and a perfect fit of experience and inter-company familiarity for assuming the position of new CEO.

Ahearne was furthermore also the driving force behind the launch of SkyCity Online Casino in August of last year. His global experience in both land-based and online casino management and strategy make of him a strong asset to the SkyCity brand, the operator has said.

As for the now temporarily shuttered Adelaide Casino and its accompanying entertainment facilities, this will have been the second period of closure for the venue for the year. The gaming venue reopened to the public on June 30 – this after several months closed since around the middle of March this year.

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