British Columbia’s online casino crashed only hours after opening late last week due to ‘high player volumes’ that had ‘exceeded server capacity’.
Thursday 22nd July 2010
The new online casino from the Canadian province of British Columbia crashed only hours after opening late last week due to ‘high player volumes’ leading to concerns that players’ confidential details could have been leaked.
Run by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), PlayNow.com is North America's first government-run online casino and features games such as blackjack, sic-bo, roulette and craps alongside sportsbetting with revenues earmarked for the province’s general fund to offset some of its expected $1.63 billion deficit.
According to a report from the Toronto Sun newspaper, the site malfunctioned last Thursday due to ‘high player volumes’ that had ‘exceeded server capacity’ with the BCLC stating that it ‘intends to restore PlayNow.com’.
A statement from the Crown Corporation revealed that a third-party security review conducted by an undisclosed company had found no evidence of hacking. However, an e-mail sent to account holders earlier explained the troubles in greater detail and claimed that heavy traffic had overloaded servers and caused ‘data crossover’. This meant that some players were switched into other player’s account upon signing in.
“Information not belonging to that player is then visible including username, session time, session spend and account balance,” read a statement issued by the Office Of Consumer Affairs.
The BCLC stated that credit card information was not revealed but its software allows operators to know which accounts were viewed and by whom.
