PlayNow.com Re-Launches for Online Gamblers

After more than a month of being shut down due to a security breach just hours into their launch, PlayNow.com re-launched right before the weekend under much less fan fair. According to the British Columbia Lottery Corporation CEO Michael Graydon, the approval was given following a review by consulting firm Deloitte and the site had permission to be back online at 7p.m Thursday.

By 10 p.m., the site was still not online however and a check at 2a.m. Friday found it still not online. BCLC officials stated they were just making sure the site was running smoothly and assured everyone it would be up later and functioning properly

The security breach concerned personal information of 134 players. 12 players had found their personal information could be viewed by other players including being able to access their funds.  After an extensive internal review, a glitch was found in the newly released software.

Graydon said they spent 3 months testing the new system before the site went live but also stated that it was a very unique circumstance that caused the glitch and nearly impossible to foresee the problem before hand.  After the site was taken back off line, it took nearly 5 days to recreate the scenario leading to the glitch to even attempt to fix it.

The shut down has been estimated to cost the B.C. Lottery Corp. around $150,000 a day and with over a month to fix totaled up to over $5 million in lost revenue. Graydon said he is confident that the glitches are fixed and no further security breaches would occur.

He acknowledges also that clients of the software may have lost trust in their online security but hopes that with time everyone will see that they are doing everything to keep the site secure.

“I don’t think there’s any question that we have to work hard to rebuild that trust,” Graydon said.

There is a second review scheduled by Deloitte that will focus on the information security systems run by the BCLC as well.

Author: GamesAndCasino