A cybersecurity incident involving slot provider Amatic Industries’ games resulted in some players winning vastly more money than intended.
A cybersecurity incident involving slot provider Amatic Industries’ games resulted in some Russian-language players winning vastly more money than intended.
NEXT.io understands a hack at the server which hosts the Austrian slots supplier’s games for Slotegrator clients took place at 6pm CEST on Friday 17 April.
The cybersecurity incident resulted in several of the provider’s games – including Book of Aztec, Lucky Joker 10, Lucky Joker 10 Extra Gifts, Lucky Joker 10 Cashspins and Lucky Joker 20 – being corrupted and producing much more frequent wins than they normally would.
Slotegrator has issued a statement claiming the issue was entirely on Amatic’s side and was situated on the server infrastructure where the games were hosted.
The aggregator wrote on LinkedIn: “Slotegrator always prioritises transparency and close cooperation with all partners. In cases such as these, we provide full technical support and assist in the investigation; however, final conclusions can only be made following a detailed analysis by the game owner.”
The glitch, which was solved by 11:30pm CEST, led to chaos for Russian-language offshore iGaming sites Vodka.Bet and Vavada after players proved able to withdraw their winnings.
Hack causes chaos on Russian language casino sites
The games – which reportedly began awarding prizes every third spin – led to some players rapidly accumulating large winnings that they then tried to withdraw with mixed results, according to comments on Russian language forums.
Meanwhile, alongside players withdrawing their winnings, others saw their accounts banned or frozen by the online casinos.
Demonstrating how lucrative the glitch was for some players, one user was able to rapidly turn a $3.50 bet into $1,200.
The hack on Amatic’s server infrastructure is emblematic of a broader trend in cybercrime, according to Joseph Steinberg, a cybersecurity expert who spoke to NEXT.io about the incident.
Steinberg argued that offshore casinos operating in legal grey areas make for particularly attractive targets. “I wouldn’t even say soft targets – they’re almost ideal targets,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of money, easy to move, because that’s what they do.”
He further explained that the jurisdictional complexity surrounding sites like Vodka.Bet and Vavada gives hackers significant cover.
“If you target somebody that is already viewed as shady in the Western world, where there really isn’t a law enforcement agency where many of the victims can go to safely, the chances of getting away with it are much higher.”