Cyberattack a ‘stark reminder’ of vulnerability
Casino hack, SBC Summit preview, Paquetá cards, Florida appeal, Norwegian exit +More
Good morning. On today’s agenda:
Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts were undone by ‘socials security’.
The regulatory bits in the week ahead at SBC Summit in Barcelona.
Paquetá cards: why betting on yellow cards is even a thing.
The Seminole’s plans in Florida might yet be scuppered again.
These birds have flown: Kindred and bet365 lead the Norwegian exit.
Love is the devil ahead and the devil doesn't sleep
Casino hack
Hackers claim to have taken six terabytes of data from MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment, as the Las Vegas giants attempt to get their systems back online following two “social engineering” cyberattacks.
The price of loyalty: Both casino operators have filed incident reports with regulators, noting a significant number of loyalty program member details, including driver’s license numbers and/or social security numbers, were compromised.
The Scattered Spider group claiming responsibility said it first attempted an Ocean’s 11-style plot to hack slots and have mules milk the machines, before turning instead to company data held on back office systems.
Bloomberg reported that Caesars had paid a $15m ransom, but the company has not confirmed the number.
MGM said it is working with law enforcement on resolving a “cybersecurity issue” and has released no further details.
Analysts at Jefferies estimated the hack was costing MGM between ~10%-20% of its daily revenues over the days that its services were effectively out of action.
Along came a spider: Scattered Spider, also known as UNC3944, is one of the most disruptive hacking outfits in the US. It is known to target an organization’s information security teams by phone, pretending to be an employee needing their password reset.
Caesars said the breach resulted from a “social engineering attack” on an IT vendor the company used, with further reports suggesting an unsuspecting employee’s LinkedIn was the point of entry.
“It serves as a stark reminder that no matter how much an organization invests in technology, a single lapse in human judgment can open the door to threat actors,” said Cliff Martin, head of cyber incident response at GRCI Law.
“‘Vishing’, or ‘voice phishing’, has become shockingly prevalent in a landscape where individuals may not prioritize cybersecurity.”
Not who you think I am: Earlier this year, the Nevada regulator warned strip operators of “sophisticated and highly successful” cage scams where fraudsters use “social engineering” tactics to pose as casino executives.
Elsewhere: About 80% of the slot machines at Apollo’s The Venetian Las Vegas went offline on Friday afternoon, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The Venetian told the paper the issue was not a result of a cyberattack, but the cause of the problem was not divulged.
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SBC Summit preview
The ethical implications of key tech advances are set to be discussed in Barcelona.
I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that: Nothing less than the future of AI, the metaverse and web 3.0 is the topic at the SBC Summit Barcelona on Wednesday at 11.20am CET as a panal of luminaries discusses whether we should be concerned about how emerging technologies might be used within the sector and beyond.
Among the speakers on the panel are Chris McGowan, head of gaming at Scatters and Stefan Kovach from RarerThings.
Oh, really, Canada: On the more familiar territory of regulatory developments, a panel on Tuesday at 3pm CET will be looking at how Ontario might be used as a stepping stone for further liberalization across other Canadian provinces.
Talking up the prospects of British Columbia, Quebec and others picking up the baton are William Woodhams, CEO at Fitzdares, Leon Thomas from Entain’s Sports Interaction and Paul Burns from the Canadian Gaming Association.
Also tackling questions around the entry into new markets later on Tuesday will be Michael Brady, newly ensconced at Conexus, Rory Howard from his old/current shop Eyas Gaming and Robin Reed from HappyHour.
Reputation Matters
After the White Paper: +More Media’s Reputation Matters takes place on October 26 at the Barbican Centre in London, where representatives from Entain, Playtech, Gamban, Regulus Partners and many others will convene to discuss the next steps for the sector following the publication earlier this year of the UK government’s Gambling Act Review.
Sponsored by UK law firm Wiggin, the event consists of an afternoon of panels, fireside chats and keynotes.
Tickets can be purchased for the event via the Reputation Matters 2023 Eventbrite page.
West Flagler files
The Seminoles’ plans in Florida might yet be scuppered again.
The late, late show: West Flagler filed a motion late Friday to prevent Hard Rock from relaunching OSB operations this week as it looks to bring the issue to the US Supreme Court, according to a report in Sports Handle. The motion could be heard today, Tuesday.
The motion is a request for a stay on the issue while former Magic City Casino owner West Flagler files an appeal against the US Department of Interior to the US Supreme Court.
West Flagler is questioning the validity of the gaming compact agreed by the state and the Seminole Tribe.
The new compact includes provisions for OSB to be launched in the state.
Recall, previously this month the DC Circuit Court of Appeals had denied West Flagler’s request for a rehearing en banc. That seemingly cleared the path for OSB operations to open up within days.
The tribe has yet to confirm when Hard Rock would start operations although they did proceed with a victory lap on X (formerly Twitter).
North Carolina: Speaking of coming back from the dead, lawmakers in North Carolina could yet get another chance to vote on legislation that would allow for three commercial casinos in the state and one tribal casino. Republican Senate leader Phil Berger released a copy of new expanded gaming legislation.
A vote on the plan could come as early as tomorrow, Wednesday, according to Rep. Jason Saine.
The regulation of VLTs is not included in the legislation, though Berger insisted that effort is still on the table, according to local media.
New York: The New York Post reports that the sacking of Scott Sibella as president and COO at Resorts World in Las Vegas could impact the downstate casino decision. The paper also speculates that Sibella’s previous role as the head of the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas could imperil MGM’s own bid for a license.
The paper notes that Resorts World and MGM Resorts, which currently operate slots facilities within the state, were “considered shoo-ins” for receiving expanded licenses.
Sibella was given his marching orders after “failing to disclose certain information required under company policies”.
The paper says Federal agents are reportedly probing whether employees at MGM Grand had been using company assets to pay off gambling debts to notorious bookie Wayne Nix.
“This is a bigger problem for MGM because they were [allegedly] involved in the conduct,” a source with close connections to the New York State Gaming Commission told the Post.
Norway exits
Kindred and bet365 are leading an exodus of big names from the Norwegian market after the regulator warned that unlicensed operators will have their websites blocked.
If you’ve heard all they’ve got to say: “The company behind Unibet” (i.e. Kindred), Betsson, ComeOn, and several other names “that operate illegally in Norway” are pulling out, according to Lotteritilsynet.
It said that website blocking of unlicensed operators will begin in 2024.
Kindred has been warned multiple times to pull MariaCasino, Storspiller, Bingo and Unibet, which are run in the country by subsidiary Trannel.
The regulator threatened daily fines of over $100k if it did not withdraw, however Kindred argued its license in Malta gave it the regulatory freedom to service Norwegian customers.
Several years of back and forth between the regulator and the group came to a head in June when the Norwegian courts sided with Lotteritilsynet, prompting Kindred and other names to plot an exit.
Pushing all my friends away: Industry associations have criticized Norway’s continued embrace of the state-owned gambling monopoly model, and said it is losing significant tax revenue and harming punters.
In a statement, the European Gaming and Betting Association (EBGA) said Norway’s monopoly system doesn’t work and it is out of step not just with trends in neighbors Sweden and Finland, but the rest of Europe.
“We strongly urge the Norwegian authorities to consider the advantages of a licensing model, which can effectively meet the evolving needs of its players and foster a more comprehensive approach to gambling regulation that prioritizes player safety,” said Maarten Haijer, EGBA Secretary General.
European notebook
The Netherlands: The Netherlands Gambling Authority has warned licensed operators BetEnt and Play North to improve their anti-money laundering controls. The regulator found that players across both platforms were able to deposit tens of thousands of euros in a short amount of time without adequate source-of-funds checks from the operators.
Sweden: The gambling regulator Spelinspektionen is likely to get a funding boost to tackle the illegal market after receiving backing from the government. The body has been earmarked for an extra SEK10.8m ($900k) in the budget bill for 2024. The government also expects the regulator’s funding to continue to increase by similar amounts over the next two years.
As part of the agreement, Spelinspektionen must partner with the Financial Supervisory Authority to block payments and investigate other financial crime matters.
Denmark: The Danish Gambling Authority has intervened in a court case to back players looking to claim winnings from a bankrupt operator. A player who had their attempts to get their winnings from DK Gambling, which traded as Onsidebetting in Denmark, rejected by a bankruptcy trustee appealed to the courts about the decision.
Italy: The Customs and Monopolies Agency is updating its rules on two controversial areas of gambling sector governance, AgiproNews reported. The regulator will amend rules on “palpable errors” and “bonus management,” subjects that have created problems for online bookmakers since the regulated market launched in 2006.
Germany: The German federal gambling regulator GGL has issued a €50,000 fine against Malta-based Red Rhino for offering online gambling without a German license. Although the operator had withdrawn its German-facing site platincasino.de from the market, players could still play on platincasino.com, which is not on the GGL’s whitelist.
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Paquetá cards
On why betting on yellow cards is even a thing.
Play your cards right: The possibility that West Ham midfielder Lucas Paquetá might be involved in a yellow card betting scandal raised many questions around the ethics of allowing bets on such outcomes in the first place.
The potential for a betting scandal around whether or not a player received a yellow card saw the English FA immediately call for these types of bets to be outlawed.
According to the Mail Online, FA officials have had talks with bookmakers about placing restrictions on some of the bets offered in certain competitions in a move that is likely to gain support from the Premier League.
Would that it were so easy: But as betting industry experts pointed out, such a move would cause a surprising degree of disruption for the bookmakers for whom betting on cards has become a somewhat essential element of their betbuilder products.
Leigh Herman, CEO at Algosport, said a ban on offering card bets would have a ”huge” impact on betting volumes.
“The most popular combo from customers is a goal market+corner market +card market,” he added.
Mark Israney, partner at gambling industry consultancy Propus Partners, agrees that including cards as part of a multi “means a clear increase in the betbuilder odds”.
“Removing cards as possible betting options, especially within bet builders, would certainly be noticeable by customers and would be a significant miss to some.”
The knock-on effect, Israney argues, would be a further drift of customers offshore. If a restriction on these markets were imposed in the UK, “it is fair to assume that some business will be lost to offshore unlicensed operators” and “towards channels where the exact integrity monitoring systems that have worked in this case, may not be in place.”
Jeevan Jeyaratnam, COO at supplier of specialized soccer props pricing Abelson Odds, noted that after a previous scandal involving a non-league player, the company and its partners moved to impose guidelines around these markets to ensure their integrity.
But he added that Abelson would not back a move towards a wider-scale ban.
“Given the global reach of the English Premier League and Spanish La Liga, for example, any localized ban would simply mean that detection becomes much harder,” he says.
“The swift reporting by the operator to UK authorities regarding suspicious bets on Paquetá, has meant any prolonged system or scheme for longer-lasting and more damaging corruption has been disrupted.
UK notebook
The Gambling Commission has announced the establishment of an Industry Forum with the aim of providing the Commission with further insight into the views of operators. The Forum will sit alongside a range of stakeholder engagement initiatives and advisory groups that support the Commission in ensuring its work is evidence-led.
The other initiatives include the Lived Experience Advisory Panel, the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling and the Digital Advisory Panel as well as the Commission’s consumer research.
Sports integrity notes
Spain: The police have made 23 arrests following an investigation of a suspected match-fixing ring. A three-year joint operation among the Spanish police, the Spanish Tax Agency, Europol and Interpol found the ring used technology to place bets on fixed matches ahead of bookmakers.
Calendar
Sep 19-21: SBC Summit Barcelona
Oct 9-12: G2E Las Vegas
Oct 16: Gaming in Germany, Berlin
Oct 26: Reputation Matters, London
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