British Columbia's Online Gambling Site Compromised

July 23, 2010 | News Category: Online Casinos

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There was much excitement as Canada launched an online gambling site that was a government regulated online gambling website. However, on the first day it was in operation, it crashed. The British Columbian online gambling site, the first regulated gambling site in all of North America reached 100% capacity on the first day, and could not cope with the load.

However, it has now come out that not only did the site reach capacity, but there was some kind of a security breech along with it. According to Rich Coleman, the British Columbia Minister of Housing and Social Development, there may have been some personal information of some of the players that that leaked.

Rich Coleman said: "It does appear that some information - because of all the data hitting at once - might have been displayed on somebody's computer, so we are dealing with that."

Some are of the opinion that the site was hacked into, but at this time, there is no evidence of that taking place.

For those attempting to visit the PlayNow.com site, they will find the following, along with both an email address and a telephone number by which players can contact Customer Services: "PlayNow.com is Currently Unavailable. We are experiencing technical difficulties and are working to correct the matter. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you."

Added to that is the line that many are looking for, in which the site admits that personal information has been compromised: "If you have not been contacted by BCLC, your account has not been impacted."

It has been reported that more than 130 user accounts were compromised in the few hours that the site was up and running, and that $8,000 was wagered from accounts that were not used by their owners. There were yet other users that reported that they could see not only their own information, but also the information of other users.

This data crossover glitch has not inspired the confidence of Canadian online gamblers, who were expecting what they had been promised, "A safe, secure, and regulated site." There are, of course, many that now feel that they would rather gamble at an offshore online casino, which has a good reputation and good certification, rather than at this government regulated site.

Hopefully, this glitch will be sorted out soon, and that it will be a lesson to other government regulated online gambling sites in the future.