BCLC site back online but loses CA$5m in revenue

The British Columbia Lottery Corporation’s online gambling site PlayNow.com has gone live more than a month after being taken down following a security breach in July. Shutting it down, however cost BCLC CA$150,000 a day, or CA$5m in total lost revenues, its CEO and president has revealed.

EGRMagazine.com reported last month that a security breach led to 134 user accounts being compromised and 12 users being able to view other people’s personal information. CA$8,000 was wagered by users using other players’ accounts before the site was taken down.

Approval to put the site back online at 7pm Canadian time was given by the province’s gambling policy and enforcement branch and the B.C. information and privacy commissioner following a review by consulting firm Deloitte, BCLC president and CEO Michael Graydon said. Software company Openbet powers the PlayNow.com platform. Openbet refused to comment.

Graydon told the Vancouver Sun newspaper that an external investigation had found the problem to be a “glitch in the software” and that it would have been “almost impossible” to foresee the problem. He said shutting down the website cost the Lottery Corporation CA$150,000 a day in revenue. The problems required more than five weeks of troubleshooting, for a total revenue loss of more than $5m. Graydon added he would not divulge the cost of the outside investigation.

PlayNow.com is the first government-run online casino in North America offering sports betting, bingo and casino and lottery games. Poker is due to come online at a later stage.

Deloitte will be undertake a second phase of the independent review into the security breach that will focus on the corporation’s information security systems.