iscover
Share this article on:
Powered by
MOMENTUM
MEDIA
A Newcastle leagues club has been forced to halt a cashless gambling trial after the trial’s banking partner was hacked.
The scheme, which was taking place at the Wests Newcastle leagues club at New Lambton, was small in scale, and only a few dozen people were affected.
Nonetheless, ahead of a wider rollout of the trial by the state government, it does raise concerns over data privacy.
“Aristocrat Gaming was recently made aware by Banktech, its digital wallet technology partner, that Banktech had experienced a cyber incident. While the investigation is ongoing, Banktech has advised that the cyber incident has not compromised any personal information belonging to any trial participants,” a company spokesperson told The Daily Telegraph.
“As a further precaution, working with Banktech and Wests, Aristocrat ensured the swift deactivation of all relevant digital wallet functionality in the venue and has ended the digital wallet trial.”
The trial used Bluetooth connectivity to link a digital wallet on a user’s smartphone with gambling machines. The digital wallet has funds that can be used either for gambling or to purchase food and drinks from participating venues.
The trial was being run on 144 of the league club’s pokie machines ahead of a wider rollout to 500 machines around the state.
The introduction of a cashless gaming system was one of the new Labor government’s major election promises.
The nature of the hack itself remains unclear, but some media are reporting that part of Banktech’s systems was encrypted, and it could involve loss of data. NSW Gaming and Racing Minister David Harris has said that NSW police, Cyber Security NSW, and the Australian Cyber Security Centre are investigating the incident.
“The NSW government strongly believes any cashless gaming trial must have secure privacy and data protections in place,” Minister Harris said in a statement to the media.
The trial has now been ended, and Aristocrat said no customer information had been compromised.
We have reached out to Banktech for further comment.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
Be the first to hear the latest developments in the cyber industry.
