Cyber Attack Forces Closure of 14 Canadian Casinos

Gateway Casinos and Entertainment, which operates 31 casinos across British Columbia, Ontario, and Alberta, was hit by a cybersecurity incident at roughly 1pm on Sunday afternoon. The IT outage saw its entire Ontario operation closed down, all 14 gaming properties to remain closed “for the coming” days. The affected casinos are located in Western Fair District, Clinton, Chatham, Hanover, Point Edward, Sarnia, Woodstock, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, North Bay, Wasaga Beach, Innisfil and Casino Rama near Orillia.

David Rees, a cyber expert and executive director and broker at Howden Insurance Brokers, spoke about an increase in hackers targeting tribal casinos in particular. Rees claimed it was a popular opinion among experts that Russia’s need for a deep war chest is one of the driving factors in the recent rise in attacks.