PlayNow Online Casino Back Online

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PlayNow Casino had earned a place in history by being the first online casino in a Canadian regulated regime. It was launched on July 15, 2010 by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC). However within a day of the start up the online casino had to be shut down. The reason first given was overload, but was later believed to be a hacking attempt.

On August 19 the BCLC, which is the operator owned by the provincial government of British Columbia, launched PlayNow online casino again. In a press conference the BCLC said that the security glitch, which opened up the personal information of some 134 players, had been detected and resolved, and the site again activated. Michael Graydon, president and CEO of BCLC, explained the problem in detail. He called glitch "a series of unique events" that consisted of a default setting in the new server software, web site "performance issues" and a high volume of traffic. It has been estimated that the 35 days of closure has cost BCLC around 5 million Canadian dollars. Graydon said that he was confident that BCLC would make up its losses as PlayNow online casino regained the confidence of its customers. At the time of closure PlayNow reportedly had about 140,000 customers. They were given the option of closing their accounts and getting their balance refunded. However most decided to stay on and will now be a relieved lot. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported that the relaunch was not without a hitch. It did not succeed in the first attempt and was delayed by a few hours.

Despite the problem faced by the BCLC, during the last month several Canadian provinces have affirmed their intent to get involved in state owned online gambling. However the province of Newfoundland and Labrador may not be able to follow suit. The provincial Premier, Danny Williams told CBC that he is against online gambling and would vote against it if the proposal came before the provincial cabinet for consideration. The Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) has given a proposal to Newfoundland and Labrador. This proposal will enable the province to close budget gaps by initiating online gambling in a regulated and strictly controlled manner. The ALC has reported that Newfoundland and Labrador is losing 50 million Canadian dollars because its residents are gambling at privately owned and operated online gambling websites, many of them offshore.

Canada has ten provinces, which are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. There are also three territories which derive their mandates and powers directly from the federal government - Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon. Of these, British Columbia has already launched state owned online gambling. Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia have affirmed their interest.

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