By
Mike J. Davies
Editor in Chief at Casinos.US Updated: 04/21/2020
Mike is our Senior Editor and experienced gambling strategist. A former hockey player, he transitioned to the casino industry after finishing his B.A. in English. Blackjack systems, online casino guides, gambling terms, and more – Mike is familiar with all fine points of gambling.
Cyber attack encryption smartphone, Photo by © geralt - Pixabay
BetAmerica has announced that its online sports betting and casino operations in the US are back online three weeks after a shutdown that was caused as a result of a cyberattack on its third-party platform provider, SBTech.
The cyberattack, which was carried on March 27, was a worldwide attack on SBTech, affecting several of its partners, including BetAmerica. The Malta-based gaming technology company was then forced to take down its data center, rendering BetAmerica offline for three weeks.
However, some of the affected partners in the incident were able to resume their operations earlier. For instance, the Oregon Lottery’s Scoreboard was back online on April 2.
BetAmerica was quick to assure its customers that their data was not compromised because of the unfortunate incident. The company sent out a statement to all its customers after the cyberattack, informing them that it has been working closely with SBTech to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
The statement from BetAmerica:
SBTech and the security firms engaged in responding to this attack have advised us that there has been no indication that BetAmerica customer data was accessed or extracted.
BetAmerica’s sports betting and online casino both were affected by the cyberattack. The online gaming company operates online casinos in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, both of which were affected by the incident.
The New Jersey online casino app was launched in February 2019, while the Pennsylvania online casino app was officially launched just two months ago after some testing was conducted in late January.
The three-week closure of the online sportsbook was not as detrimental to BetAmerica since the coronavirus pandemic has forced the banning of all sports events available in the sportsbooks in the U.S. This has been the case for about a month, and there is no clear estimate on when sportsbooks will be able to operate again.
BetAmerica also has a racebook, which operates separately from its sportsbook. Fortunately, the racebook was not affected by the SBTech cyberattack.
BetAmerica was started just two years ago in 2018, with retail sportsbooks in two casinos in Mississippi. During its two years of operation, the company has launched retail as well as online sportsbooks at the Rising Star Casino in Indiana and the Presque Isle Downs and Casino in Pennsylvania.
BetAmerica ranks at the bottom among all the licensed sportsbooks in the two states. In Indiana, the company has failed to deliver any sports wagering tax revenue to the state for 2020, as per the records from the Indiana Gaming Commission. Indiana has generated a total of $432.8 million in sports betting handle for 2020, and out of this, just $815,774 has come from the retail and online operations of BetAmerica.
The company has struggled to find its footing in Pennsylvania too. Out of the 12 licensed sportsbooks in the state, BetAmerica currently ranks 10th with its $21.7 million sportsbook handle for the fiscal year of 2019-2020. The state had a 13th sportsbook, which started operating last month.
Through a partnership with Golden Nugget Casino, BetAmerica has also launched an online app in the state of New Jersey. The lack of a mobile app in Indiana and Pennsylvania could be attributed to the company’s low performance in these states.
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