The first-ever trial of cashless play for gaming machines in New South Wales (NSW), which began last October at the Wests Newcastle club, was prematurely ended by about a week after a cyberattack compromised some of the participants’ data.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the data breach affected approximately 40 of the 200 total participants. The machines used in the trial were supplied by Aristocrat, with Banktech as the digital payment partner. Hackers were reportedly able to encrypt the lines between players’ bank accounts and the digital wallets used to fund play on the machines.
That said, a spokesperson for Aristocrat did confirm to the Herald that the Banktech servers were immediately shut off once the breach was detected, and no personal information from the participants was compromised. Third-party investigators were also notified at the time of the attack.
“Aristocrat takes its obligations, including the protection of personal information, very seriously and we are working closely with Banktech to ensure that Banktech follows appropriate assessment and reporting guidelines under applicable laws,” the spokesperson told the newspaper.
Even though the trial was mostly complete, some lawmakers have voiced concerns about the circumstances surrounding the incident. Some fear that it may have been linked to organized crime, as the implementation of cashless play would severely cut down on instances of money laundering and terrorism financing.
“This data breach is deeply suspicious and I think it would be important for the government to refer any information that they have to the NSW Crime Commission in the context of their investigation into organized crime and money laundering in NSW,” Independent MP Alex Greenwich told the Herald. “We know organized crime is engaged in these kinds of data breaches and ransomware attacks, and we know that organized crime has a lot to lose should we be implementing cashless gaming in NSW to prevent their ability to launder money.”
David Harris, the state’s gaming and racing minister, also confirmed that numerous agencies, including NSW Police, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and Cyber Security NSW are all part of the investigative team.
The trial was rolled out as a response to several suitability inquiries launched in the last 18 months against Star Entertainment and Crown Resorts. Both operators were deemed unsuitable for casino licensure in numerous states, including NSW, and are currently embarking on remediation efforts. Last year, both Star and Crown agreed to migrate to cashless play as part of those efforts, and the recent trial was expected to serve as a guide to those transitions.
The previous state government, led by Premier Dominic Perrottet, was adamant about implementing mandatory cashless play for all machines statewide, but the new regime has yet to make the same commitment, saying before the elections in March that additional trials would be needed for proof of concept.
Despite the hiccups in cashless play, however, the state government is pushing ahead with other responsible gaming initiatives, namely by slashing the statewide machine count by more than 3,000 units and implementing a new cash-in limit of US$334 for machines at bars and clubs starting July 1. This new limit represents a ten-fold decrease from the existing limit of $3,340.
The new rules are to be enforced by the NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA), but they won’t apply to machines that were installed prior to the July 1 cutoff. They also won’t apply to Star Sydney, which has already committed to implementing cashless players cards in the future.
“We promised the people of NSW that we’d reform the gaming sector in a way that reduced gambling harm while future-proofing the industry,” said Harris, according to Inside Asian Gaming. “One of these commitments was to reduce the number of poker machines in this state – and this is an important step forward.”
