Worldwide IT outage on 19 July: bwin, Ladbrokes and other entain platforms down

19 July 2024 was an impressive reminder of how dependent we all are on the global IT infrastructure. Due to a blackout that apparently resulted from an update, numerous airlines, hospitals and media outlets were no longer able to access some of their most important systems. Large gambling platforms from Entain, one of the leading providers of sports betting and online casinos in Europe, were also affected. What happened and what are the consequences of such problems?

On Friday, 19 July 2024, massive technical outages were reported almost everywhere in the world. Airlines, media and telecommunications companies, stock exchanges and other organisations had problems using their systems as usual. In Germany, airports in particular were affected and ultimately travellers too. At Hamburg Airport, for example, only a few planes were able to take off - and in Berlin, all traffic was even cancelled after server failures (source: RBB). Due to unspecified technical faults, the University Medical Centre Schleswig-Holstein cancelled all planned operations at its sites in Kiel and Lübeck.

The outage mainly affected companies that use Microsoft Windows software. A cyber attack was not initially ruled out. However, in a statement released on the same Friday, CrowdStrike, a leading provider of cyber security solutions from Austin, Texas (USA), confirmed that the problem was not a criminal attack. Rather, the difficulties were related to a "bug in a single content update for Windows hosts".

The company issued an official management statement on Friday evening stating that the cause had been identified and that work was underway to rectify it:

"We quickly recognised the problem and found a solution so that we could focus on restoring customer systems, which was our top priority." It continues: "We are working closely with affected customers and partners to ensure that all systems are restored so that you can provide the services your customers rely on."

In Germany, there were no official reports that gambling platforms were also down. However, the international trade press reported difficulties at Ladbrokes, Sportingbet, bwin and BetMGM, which were no longer available in the USA and the UK. In Australia, players were also unable to access local offers. Such an outage is not only a very sensitive situation for the moment - it can also cause considerable difficulties in the long term.

Ladbrokes, Sportingbet, bwin, BetMGM, TAB and Flutter were off

Entain, based on the Isle of Man, was apparently the company most affected by the IT outage in the gambling industry. The websites of Ladbrokes, Sportingbet, bwin and BetMGM could no longer be used in the USA from 13:30 local time (Pacific time) on 19 July. The services displayed corresponding error messages for users on their homepages.

For example, bwin said (translated):

"We are experiencing a temporary service interruption and our team is working to restore normal service quickly. We apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding. Check this page for updates."

The message on BetMGM's website was much more sober:

"Something has gone wrong. The web server is returning an unknown error."

BetMGM actually went live in Washington DC on Wednesday 17 July, according to the trade press, and had such an outage immediately after launch. BetMGM's biggest competitors in the US, FanDuel, DraftKings, ESPN Bet and Fanatics Sportsbook, were not affected.

In Australia, TAB and Flutter suffered outages. Tab published a message via X (formerly Twitter) stating that its online and local business was offline. On the same day, the company announced that its services had been restored.

How can global technical failures or blackouts affect gambling platforms?

Global technical failures or blackouts can indeed have not only unexpected and short-term, but profound and long-term effects on gambling platforms.

A key challenge is maintaining data integrity. Serious data inconsistencies can occur during an outage, with transactions being processed incompletely. Among other things, this leads to incorrect account balances and lost winnings, which severely damages player confidence.

Another critical problem is IT security. Blackouts create gaps that cyber criminals like to exploit. For example, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks could further destabilise a platform by flooding it with excessive requests, prolonging the recovery process and creating additional vulnerabilities.

Furthermore, gambling platforms are under strict compliance requirements. An outage could mean that they are temporarily unable to comply with legal regulations such as GDPR data protection. This can lead to significant legal and ultimately financial consequences.

However, the financial impact of a down is considerable even without potential data protection penalties. In addition to direct loss of revenue due to lost gaming revenue, there are costs for restoring the IT infrastructure and implementing additional security measures. Insurance premiums for protection against such problems may also increase, especially after a global incident such as the one on 19 July.

In the long term, even the brand image could suffer lasting damage. Players who have lost profits or had their data jeopardised as a result of a down will lose their trust in an affected platform (even if it is not actually to blame for the difficulties). They quickly switch to competitors where operations were not restricted and may remain loyal to them in the future.

All of this shows that those responsible for system failures must not only react to technical aspects, but also communicate proactively and think ahead. Transparent disaster recovery plans (DRP) and business continuity plans (BCP) can help to minimise future risks and ensure business continuity.

Conclusion

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