Two Las Vegas Casinos Succumb to A Puzzling Computer Outage

Two downtown Las Vegas casinos are slowly getting back to normal after a massive computer outage. The problem brought down dozens of slot machines across two different casinos, and right now, more questions are lingering about what might have caused the attack on these casinos.

After investigations, it was confirmed that Four Queens and Binion’s Casinos appeared to be hit hard last Wednesday by what seemed to be a cyber-attack. It all started when videos started doing rounds on social media, indicating that there was something staggeringly wrong with the casino computer systems. The first images appeared on Vital Vegas and Las Vegas Locally Twitter handles showing how the outage had impacted everything from checking to the slot machines. By that time, the usually busy casino floors were empty.

Up until Saturday, the Four Queens Casino still had rows of machines out of service and scattered outages. Moreover, visitors who visited the casino found a front desk sign in the lobby advising guests that the computers were down. However, when the owners of Binion’s and Four Queens were asked about the computer glitch, they declined to make any comment. 

Come Monday, while players could access some of the games on the machines at the Four Queens Casino, reports indicated that the machines couldn’t still print vouchers. Later in the day, the Nevada Gaming Control Board acknowledged that they were aware of the incident and they are currently monitoring the situation closely. 

Las Vegas is No Stranger to Cyber Threats

As alarming as the matter appears, however, Sin City has been facing cyber threats for some time now. In January, for instance, the City of Las Vegas fell victim of cyber compromise that caused panic. Upon investigations, data revealed that breach attempts happen to the city and its computer systems an astounding 279 thousand times a month on average.

However, to date, reports confirm that no sensitive data is thought to have been lost in all these attempts against the city in general. Additionally, cybersecurity experts in the city confirmed that these types of incidents appear to be on the rise not only locally but on a global scale. 

Garvin Bushell, the President of The Learning Center Las Vegas, appeared for an interview on a local tv station with a map that pinpointing cyber-attacks in real-time all over the globe. From his report, most of the attacks were traced from sources overseas, especially in China and Russia, targeting the United States.

Bushell also speculated that the computers at the casino must have been locked down by ransomware. He then added that when it comes to Cyber Security, it is not a question of if, but rather when it’s going to happen and how bad it will get. As such, cyber-security personnel in the Las Vegas casinos and the city at large are always on high-alert.