B.C.'s privacy commissioner has confirmed that a breach that compromised users' account details forced the shutdown of the B.C. Lottery Corporation's new online casino PlayNow.com just hours after it was launched last week. Read more here.
Technical troubles shut down North America's first legal online casino the day it opened.
But B.C. Lottery Corporation said Monday that it "intends to restore PlayNow.com."
BCLC claimed Friday that the site was temporarily offline simply because of too many visitors. The Crown corporation did not return QMI phone calls Monday, but it finally issued a media statement at 6:02 p.m. blaming "high player volumes" that exceeded server capacity on Thursday. The statement said a third-party security review by an undisclosed company found no evidence of hacking.
An email sent more than an hour earlier to account holders, however, explained the troubles in greater detail. BCLC claimed the heavy traffic overloaded servers and caused "data crossover." When gamblers signed in, they were switched into another player's account.
"Information not belonging to that player is then visible, including username, session time, session spend and account balance," said the statement from the Consumer Services department.
BCLC said credit card information was not revealed, but the software allows it to know which accounts were viewed and by whom.
“If the government is going to get into online gaming, they need to protect people’s privacy," said NDP critic Shane Simpson. "People want to be able to trust that their private information, from credit card numbers to gambling histories, is not being compromised.”
The chief executive of the British company that built PlayNow's software said the site crash is not uncommon in online gambling.
“It’s just a case of getting the infrastructure right," said OpenBet's David Loveday. "It’s not the first time this has happened in the industry. It’s unfortunate for all of us, it’s very hard to predict volumes.”
Statistics from Alexa.com show that almost 61 percent of PlayNow traffic came from within Canada, followed by United Kingdom (10.6%), United States (9.6%) and Panama (7.3%). Only British Columbians in the province will be allowed to bet, when PlayNow reopens.
Bob Mackin reports for 24 Hours
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Barryeng
1 year ago
Only BC You Say?
" Only British Columbians in the province will be allowed to bet, when PlayNow reopens."
Does this mean that only British Columbians are allowed to lose all their money? I've suspected for a long time that Campbell is deliberately trying to destroy this province for some unknown reason. This just confirms my worst suspicions.
circle A
1 year ago
campbells liberals
have got what it takes,to take what you`ve got!
crankypants
1 year ago
Reality check time
I think a reality check is in order regarding the information Rich Coleman has been throwing around. He has stated that $100 million has been leaving BC into offshore gambling sites each year. That works out to approximately $27,400 per day or approximately $1,140 per hour.
Now assume that a bettor places bets of $5.00 each time and each game takes one minute to play, he would be spending $300.00 per hour. Thus it would only take 4 people playing on the site to exceed the $1,140 per hour.
Of course nobody can play 24/7 every day of the year, but I question Mr. Coleman's estimation of the $100 million figure. He has either lowballed this figure on purpose, or this site will be nothing but a money loser. If it's the latter, guess who gets to make up the shortfall?
NormS
1 year ago
Integrity?
Am I experiencing deja vu all over again? Didn't the lottery retailer scandal teach the government anything? Here it is again: You cannot trust the provider (BCLC) to police themselves, and your so-called regulatory agency, the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, is not up to the job.
morechatter
1 year ago
What did scandal teach government?
What every other scandal has taught the BC Liberals it doesn't matter what government does as there are no consequences to their despicable actions as its crystal clear for all to see.
crankypants
1 year ago
Mia culpa
Re; my last posting
Somehow I dropped a zero in my calculations. The handle per day would be about $275,000 per day which means all the other calculations must be increased tenfold.
I guess if they are able to generate this level of activity, then the endeavor may be profitable. I would be curious about which segments of our society have the money to make this level of activity become a reality.