
A rendering that is 3-D of proposed Suffolk Downs casino, now planned for Revere with partner Mohegan Sun (Image: Wendy Maeda/Boston Globe)
They say the home always wins, and right now, prospective casino operators Suffolk Downs and Mohegan Sun are positively for a winning streak in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission unanimously authorized a waiver to the standing deadline for operators to register applications including certified referendum results from their host communities by the end of the season.
More Hours, The Following Year
That December 31 deadline ended up being going to be a real issue with the Suffolk Downs casino proposal. A chance to build a casino solely on land in the town of Revere, it also agreed that the original vote taken earlier this year was for a substantially different proposal while the crazy winner casino gaming commission was willing to allow the race track and partner Mohegan Sun. As such, a vote that is new needed the one that would not manage to be held before the year-end deadline.
Your decision was one that the panel said they made in a attempt become since fair as possible to all sides. On November 5, both East Boston and Revere voted on whether to approve a Suffolk Downs casino that could have been primarily and nearly entirely found on the Boston side of the edge involving the two communities. East Boston residents voted against that proposition, while Revere voters overwhelmingly approved it.
That left a lot of outstanding legal questions, the absolute most essential of which was whether Suffolk Downs could now build a casino solely on land in Revere, which had approved a casino. The choices ever since then have essentially stated that the answer is ‘yes’ but that it’s going to be treated as a unique project that have to be re-approved, separately from the proposal that is previous.
‘We have wrestled hard with racking your brains on how exactly to reconcile the ‘no’ vote in East Boston with all the ‘yes’ vote in Revere, and there is no solution that is perfect’ said Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby.
The waiver was the closest to that ‘perfect solution’ that the payment could come up with, thinking about the tight deadline. Mohegan Sun must still file their application being a potential operator by the finish of 2013, but a second referendum in Revere will take spot sometime within the next 3 months after the deadline that is original.
Boston Fires Back
Boston officials opposed the waiver, saying that the vote in East Boston should be ‘respected and maintained’ in a letter to the payment. In addition, incoming Boston Mayor-elect Martin Walsh has stated that he’sn’t yet ruled out the possibility of taking legal action against this second casino proposal in Revere.
But Revere Mayor Dan Rizzo has expressed confidence that the residents of his city will not only get to vote on the casino that is new, but that they’ll back it with the same types of support they did initial time around. On November 5, 61 percent of Revere voters consented to endorse the Suffolk Downs casino proposal, though it’s not clear if that help will increase or fall given that the casino will actually be in Revere.
Should the proposal that is new approval from voters and regulators, it will end up being the second project to compete for the one available eastern Massachusetts casino permit. One other casino proposition for the reason that region is found in Everett, and would be operated by Wynn Resorts. That project just passed the suitability quotient of the gaming commission’s investigations.
Polish Computer Programmers Sentenced for Cyber Blackmail Threats
They might look happy and carefree here, but Polish computer programmers Patryk Surmacki, 35 (left) and Piotr Smirnow, 31 (right) meant no good when they authorized cyber attacks on two casino sites (Image: Cavendish Press)
Two Polish computer programmers who attempted to blackmail two major unnamed on-line casino sites one in the united kingdom and something in america have now been sentenced to prison, after a police sting nabbed the pair earlier this year.
False Pretenses
Piotr Smirnow, 31, and Patryk Surmacki, 35, approached the owner of the UK site and requested a gathering. The victim whom has A internet that is manchester-based casino met the pair underneath the understanding that Smirnow had a business proposition for him. The pair had been known by him for four years ahead of the proposed company meeting, according to authorities reports.
But things took an ugly turn when, during the meeting which took place at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 the computer code writers demanded a 50 percent share associated with man’s company and threatened to take down the casino site’s servers if he declined.
The pair told the dog owner that they knew a notorious computer hacker by the name of ‘Wapo’ into the U.S., who they claimed would carry the cyber-attack out on the company’s servers if the pair paid him to do this, therefore stopping the operations of the company.
Known being a ‘distributed denial of service’ (DDoS), the court was told that the assault is with the capacity of bringing down even the many sophisticated of websites by overwhelming them via a mass attack of the business’s computer servers.
Cyber Hacker Paid
As the business owner declined to hand over 50 % of his company, Smirnow and Surmacki performed their threat on August 2nd and paid the cloaked American hacker £12,000 ($19,700) to do their dirty work. The Manchester-based site went straight down for five hours, costing the company £15,000 ($24,558) when no clients could access the website during that time.
The victim had currently alerted Manchester police to the duo’s risk, but, and another meeting was set up in a hotel that is bugged close to Heathrow Airport on August 7th.
Whenever the owner of the business told the pair that he would not cooperate with them, they told him that they had been ‘going to war’ and were then arrested by police who were on standby.
Smirnow also admitted that he had carried out a similar attack for an American victim through a Skype call, during which he stated which they had ‘enough power so individuals can’t decide to try to push us around anymore,’ leading Detective Inspector Mossop to the understanding that the investigation had disassembled an ‘emerging global cyber threat.’ This time the victim was a U.S.-based gaming platform that allows 100 casino sites worldwide.
As for the U.S. site owners, they obviously dodged a bullet.
‘This case made me fear for my personal security, since well as for the future of my company. Which is the reason why I felt compelled to do this against the perpetrators,’ stated who owns the casino that is manchester-based, which is calculated become worth £30 million ($49,143,000). It’s estimated that an attack that is week-long e-commerce might have cost the site owner a $600,000 loss, based on court reports.
‘No one should have to succumb to blackmail and also this phrase should become a warning to those associated with cyber extortion that the police and the courts will view this sort of conduct very seriously,’ the site owner added.
Smirnow and Surmacki later pleaded guilty to two charges of blackmail and acts that are unauthorized computers, and had been sentenced to 5 years and four months each by Judge Michael Henshaw at the Manchester court. Their own defense team described their attempted blackmail as ‘bizarre, misconceived, naïve and brazen.’
‘They utilized their intimate, expert knowledge of online business to bully the victims into submission,’ revealed Detective Inspector Chris Mossop of the Organised Crime that is serious Division. ‘ But make no mistake, they may have been using the technology that is latest, but this ended up being merely good antique blackmail.’
Affinity Gaming Hit with Target-Style Security Breach
Nevada and casino that is regional Affinity Gaming happens to be struck having a credit and debit card security breach.
It’s perhaps not been a week that is good the industry that supposedly safeguards our credit and debit card transactions. Just days after a nationwide scandal that pulled in the Secret Service to investigate a massive system hack at popular retailer Target a breach that could bring about fake charges, identity theft, or worse Las Vegas-based casino business Affinity Gaming appears to have been hit by having a fiasco that is similar.
Credit-Processing Systems Compromised
Affinity announced that their credit and debit-processing systems had been hacked by the week-end’s begin, and were telling their customers most most likely near to 300,000 of whom could have been hit by the hacking to watch their credit info as well as any unauthorized charges to their accounts.
Exactly what everyone wants to worry about after blowing their holiday bankroll, right?
But wait, it gets far worse. All the way through to October 16: that’s seven months while Target’s breach spanned approximately five weeks from around Thanksgiving to a week before Christmas Affinity says theirs hit all 12 of their properties in four U.S. states, and that the breach continued unabated from March 14 of this year. Incorporated into the properties affected were the company’s popular Nevada stateline gambling enterprises, including Whiskey Pete’s, Buffalo Bill’s, and Primm Valley Resort and Casino.
According to outside legal counsel for Affinity, James Prendergast, the cyber-hack ended up being from a ‘very sophisticated piece of spyware that got as a location that is terrible. It got included and eliminated and we called in third-party forensic investigators for confirmation that it was gone,’ Prendergast noted.
No Way to understand Who Got Hit
Adding to the confusion, because Affinity doesn’t keep any consumer charge card information in their databases, they have no means of knowing or notifying whom might have been affected by the online world theft. But with casinos scattered throughout Nevada, Colorado, Missouri and Iowa, it most likely could affect a consumer that is nearly nationwide, particularly as several gambling enterprises come in or near Las Vegas.
And you could also be in trouble, because that business’s credit and debit processing systems were also hacked, starting on an as-yet-undetermined date and ending on November 29 if you happened to pump gas at Affinity’s Primm Center Gas Station a major stopping point at Nevada’s stateline into California.
Therefore far, the only method Affinity has been able to notify customers of any possible dilemmas happens to be on unique web site with a ‘public notice of information protection event,’ but needless to say, many who may have been hit will never see that.
Both of whom have been notified, it definitely gets the attention of state regulatory agencies, including Nevada’s Gaming Control Board while hacking of this scope can fall under the purview of the Secret Service and the FBI. GCB Chairman A.G. Burnett claims their company let the Nevada Gaming Commission know of the issues immediately.
‘The business promptly notified us of what happened,’ Burnett explained. ‘They are working together with us closely.’
As for Affinity, aside from their internet site notice and media attention, they don’t have plenty of methods to let customers know what is occurred or how to handle it about this, but in a statement said that ‘Affinity regrets any inconvenience this incident could potentially cause and has established a confidential, toll-free inquiry line to assist its customers.’
That line, you might have been affected, is open from 8 am to 6 pm Pacific Standard Time, Mondays through Fridays if you think. The amount to phone for U.S. or Canadian residents is 877-238-2179; all other international residents should phone Affinity at +1-814-201-3696.
‘Affinity is cooperating within the law that is ongoing investigation associated with the incident,’ a business statement read. ‘Affinity has also taken lots of measures to strengthen the security of our community and has now worked with legal and security vulnerability specialists to simply help identify and implement additional appropriate safeguards.’