Avid Players Crash New BC Lottery Gambling Website

Recently the British Columbia Lottery Corporation ventured into the world of online gambling. The high profile launch of the website prompted many British Columbian online gamblers to check out what the BC lottery website had to offer. The launch was not without mishaps; on opening day the Lottery's new website crashed and remained offline for a full day and night. There was also a reported privacy breach which was corrected. A lottery spokesperson said the crash was a result of high traffic prompted by increased betting limits and new games. The betting limit was increased to $9,999 (Canadian dollars) and 135,000 people registered to play on the site.

Technicians quickly added new hardware to handle the increased traffic on the website. Use of the new gambling site is limited to British Columbia residents and the site became the first online gambling site offered by a North American jurisdiction. The launch of the lotterys gambling website was not without controversy and anti gambling activists and religious leaders protested the move by the BC government. The intent of the BC lottery’s new website is to offer BC residents an alternative to unregulated offshore gambling sites. British Columbia Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman said that currently BC residents are spending $100 million dollars a year on internet gambling sites and remains unapologetic about allowing the BC lottery Corporation to spend $325 million dollars a year to protect the province's $1 billion dollar revenues from lottery sales and other casino gambling.

In recent years gambling in BC has grown from bingo halls to full blown Las Vegas style casino gambling. NDP social development critic Shane Simpson said that the province's entry into online gambling comes at the same time when the province is cutting funding for gambling 'addiction' and gambling enforcement. The most serious problem for the new lottery gambling website came when accounts belonging to 134 users were compromised and about $8,000 was wagered by accounts that were compromised. The security breach revealed information "similar to what you would find on the bottom of a personal cheque" according to one source. The breach drew criticism from the opposition and New Democratic Party critic Shane Simpson stated, "It's very concerning that they spun this on Friday " the minister said and the corporation " as being about too many enthusiastic people wanting to play on the site." The BC lottery corporation hopes to have all the glitches worked out and provide BC residents with a safe gambling venue.