Gateway Casinos is reopening its Ontario properties after nearly two weeks of shutdown because of a cyberattack. Fourteen of its Ontario casinos, including Casino Rama in Orillia, Gateway Casinos Innisfil and Playtime Casinos Wasaga Beach, have been closed since April 16 after a ransomware attack knocked out its servers.
Gateway Casinos has reopened its Innisfil site in Ontario, other locations will reopen in the coming weeks
Gateway Casinos has since reopened its Innisfil site. The company said it would begin reopening the rest of its properties in the weeks ahead, according to a media press release. The Canadian gaming operator also said there is no evidence that personal information was compromised.
“We will continue to work with our third-party experts to determine the impacts on personal information, if any, and will keep you updated as we resolve this cyber incident,” a Gateway Casinos spokesperson said.
“We are continuing to work with third party experts on a 24/7 basis to determine if there has been any impact on [Gateway Casinos] data in this case,” the company said.
Although the cyberattack led to closed doors, Gateway Casinos has continued operating its concert venues. A Scotty McCreery concert at Casino Rama went on as scheduled at the end of April.
Furthermore, Gateway Casinos has already reopened multiple casinos at various locations. The cybersecurity incident began on April 16 and forced the company to close its casino at Western Fair District and other venues across Southwestern Ontario.
Casinos in Canada are experiencing their first full year of uninterrupted play since 2019
“Presently, we are testing [IT systems] and are now working to safely reopen our Ontario operations,” said Rob Mitchell, Communications and Public Affairs Director at Gateway. “The reopening timeline depends on the success of the testing we’re doing and the approval of regulatory bodies,” he added.
Casinos throughout Canada are currently experiencing their first full year of uninterrupted play since 2019 after being shut down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in March 2020.
Paul Burns, the Chief Executive of the Canadian Gaming Association that represents the industry, said the cyberattack was unfortunate timing for casinos.
“This is an important time for us and there has been a positive feeling in the industry about how casinos are performing,” he said. “It will be back and we believe customers will come back again. They came back after the pandemic, they will again. The pandemic proved we’re resilient.”
Gate Way Casinos’ other Southwestern Ontario locations are in Chatham, Clinton, Hanover, Point Edward, Sarnia, and Woodstock. Other affected casinos include North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, and Thunder Bay.
