The BC Lottery Corp.'s legalized internet gambling website went online with much fanfare on Thursday, July 15. The organization has now cited that popularity as the reason for why the website crashed later that day
and has yet to come back online.
According to an article by the Toronto Sun, BCLC claimed Friday, July 16 that the site was temporarily offline simply because of too many visitors. After the site was offline all weekend and through Monday, July 19, the corporation eventually issued a statement last night, at roughly 6:00 p.m., saying that "high player volumes" which exceeded server capacity on Thursday was the culprit.
The Toronto Sun article cites emails sent to account holders earlier in the day on Monday as saying that the troubles overloaded servers and caused "data crossover." The report goes on to explain that when gamblers signed in to their accounts, they were switched into another player's account.
“If the government is going to get into online gaming, they need to protect people’s privacy," said NDP critic Shane Simpson. "People want to be able to trust that their private information, from credit card numbers to gambling histories, is not being compromised.”
(With files from the Toronto Sun)