Online Gambling: British Columbia Website Compromised User Information
Last night, Gambling911.com brought you the shock story regarding how the British Columbia B.C. Lottery Corp. reportedly has ties to organized crime.
Now comes word that the B.C. Lottery Corp last week disabled its online gambling site “because the accounts belonging to 134 users had been compromised”, organization president and CEO Michael Graydon said Tuesday.
Graydon told the Vancouver Sun that after a major relaunch of the website on Thursday, about $8,000 was wagered by accounts controlled by someone other than the owner and in 12 cases, users were able to view other people’s personal information. Banking information was also revealed to these individuals.
Prior to these latest revelations, officials had said that the website, PlayNow.com, went down last week due to “an overload of traffic”.
Company vice-president Kevin Gass made no mention at the time of a security breach, according to the Sun.
British Columbia Solicitor General Mike de Jong stated publicly this week his concerns over the B.C. Lotteries Corp having been fined $670,000 by the federal agency that tracks money laundering and terrorist financing.
De Jong said Tuesday he is reviewing reports he has just received about more than 1,000 violations by the lottery corporation of the federal Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act.
"Obviously the facilities are there to administer to members of the public engaged in lawful gaming activities and if some of these early reports are true, yes, it is troubling," de Jong said. "Gaming is legitimate activity. It is regulated heavily. We expect both those providing the gaming actrivites and those consumer and customers who use it to abide by the law."
Ace King, Gambling911.com
