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added on 2010-07-22 05:03:49
British Columbia's new online gambling website was shut down just a few hours after its launch. Initially, the B.C. Lottery Corporation said the website was closed because of the unexpected influx of traffic. The company also said that the website had to be closed for maintenance, in order to add new hardware and servers to the system. But recently, it has been revealed that it was the players' safety the main reason of the B.C. Lottery Corporation's concern.
It seems like the website crashed because it was hacked. Michael Graydon, president of the BC Lottery Corporation, said the accounts of 134 users had been compromised, several users were able to view other people's personal information and that about $8,000 was wagered by accounts controlled by someone other than the owner. Several users stated that they were able to view the last four digits of someone else's credit card, or even the entire account numbers of other users' personal bank accounts.
The British Columbia's new online gambling website is the first North-American online casino authorized and run by the government. 14,000 British Columbian players registered on the website from the first day of its launching. The website offers different casino games, including blackjack, baccarat, craps, poker etc, bingo and sports lottery.
Shane Simpson, NDP critic for housing and social development, said the website was not prepared with enough technology and it underestimated the number of users.
“They just underestimated what they were doing. They were expecting people to put significant personal information and credit card information on there. The government simply has to be more transparent if they want people to have confidence in their site,” said Simpson.
The B.C. Lottery Corporation said the website will be restored when a solution that meets the highest levels of player protection is implemented. The website will wait for the third party's approval and regulatory certification.
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