Customers of the Graton Resort and Casino in Rohnert Park, California recently received a letter entitled Notice of Data Breach following an unintentional email distribution of personal information including patrons’ names, addresses and Social Security numbers. Lori Nelson, a spokeswoman for Las Vegas-based Station Casinos, operator of the Graton casino, said the information was released because of “human error.” She stated, “It’s important to note this was not a data breach or a hack. It was human error that we have now taken the necessary steps to prevent from occurring again.” Nelson did not say how many people were affected by the incident, which may have originated with an employee or a vendor.
“We place the integrity, safety and trust of our relationships with our guests at Graton Resort and Casino as our top priority,” she said.
The letter indicated on September 1, casino staff “discovered that certain personal information was inadvertently distributed in a small number of email attachments as ‘hidden’ information that could be revealed via certain manipulation by the recipients. ”The emails were distributed between February and August this year, the letter said. “Upon discovering the situation, we immediately ceased distribution of the information, took steps to stop further distribution of the material and took steps to ensure it does not happen again,” the letter noted.
It also advised affected patrons to “closely monitor your financial accounts and credit reports for fraudulent transactions. ”The casino will pay for a free one-year subscription to a credit monitoring service for individuals inconvenienced by the mistake.
An unrelated network error occurred at the casino on September 15 in which automatic payouts crashed on slots and video poker machines. Some customers waited at machines up to four hours as casino employees hand-delivered winnings. That network error was resolved the same night, Nelson said.
