More than 30 hours after Gateway Casinos and Entertainment abruptly shut down Casino Rama and its other Ontario casinos, the company has confirmed it was a victim of a cyber attack.
Casino Rama and other Gateway gaming sites "will remain closed in the coming days" as the company attempts to restore its IT systems.
"Over the weekend, we detected a cyber security incident and closed our operations in Ontario," noted a brief statement issued by the company Monday night.
"We have retained third-party cyber professionals who are working 24/7 to help us restore the IT environment."
A company official says it's unclear if personal data has been breached.
"Our upmost concern is the protection of personal data and information," noted the release from the company.
"At this point, we do not have any information indicating that this incident involves any compromise of personal data. However, we are in the process of notifying the relevant privacy officials and gaming regulator of the incident," said the release.
"We appreciate the continued patience of our employees, customers and government partners as we work to reopen our properties in Ontario, and will continue to provide further updates to the public regarding our reopening."
An internal memo, obtained by OrilliaMatters from Unifor Local 1090, which represents unionized employees at Casino Rama, said the union is concerned about the breach.
"It is the union's position that Gateway take appropriate action to protect our members from any potential impact from this breach whether information has been taken or not," states the memo.
It goes on to say the company "will continue to cancel shifts on a shift-by-shift basis until their systems are back up."
Casino Rama opened July 31, 1996 and was open 24/7 continuously until they were forced to close during the province's pandemic shutdown in 2020.
According to its website, Gateway is one of the largest and most diversified gaming and entertainment companies in Canada with 29 gaming properties in British Columbia and Ontario and two additional properties in Edmonton, Alberta.
