Unexpected Bounty
A software glitch at Star Casino in Sydney, Australia, led to the casino inadvertently giving away money for several weeks, writes The Register.
3.2 million Australian dollars (or $2.05 million) were distributed by mistake.
As it turned out, for many years Star Casino had problems in compliance with Compliance (compliance with external and internal requirements), which could even call into question its license.
How did this happen
An error occurred in the "receiving and issuing money" (TICO) software. They are used by players to exchange receipts with a barcode for winnings in slot machines.
You can insert two receipts into TICO slots and receive the total amount at once, explained casino manager Nicholas Weeks.
Because of the failure, TICO returned one of these tickets and allowed it to be reused — the barcode printed on it was not recognized as paid.
"What happened was that because of this defect, small additional amounts of cash were made available to customers in circumstances where they should not have received them," Weeks told the inquiry.
"Small additional amounts" meant payments of up to two thousand Australian dollars (or $1.29 thousand), which the machine could issue at a time.
The software glitch could not be detected for more than a month. This is despite the fact that the presence of problems with TICO was known, they were revealed by a check in the summer of 2023.
An internal investigation of the new incident found "numerous failures (human and technological) that more than likely prevented detection of fraud at an earlier opportunity."
Weeks attributed these failures to "a cultural problem in some casino divisions due to the level of rigor with which controls are carried out."
An independent investigation was initiated against Star Casino, as it was considered that its response to previous inspections "did not meet expectations".
It also turned out that the casino's facial recognition systems do not work properly and do not identify the images of those who were supposed to pass a wealth source check designed to detect cases of possible money laundering. Thus, unverified individuals could still enter the casino and leave large amounts of money there.
The lucky ones are facing charges
A local publication, The Sydney Morning Herald, reported in April 2024 that news of the "free" cash spread, and at least 43 people took advantage of the TICO slot machine error at Star Casino to withdraw money they were not entitled to.
All those whom the authorities were able to clean up were charged.
One of them was a recovering gamer who "went off the rails" because of the opportunity to not spend his money and continue playing.
Another "lucky guy" is suspected of having accomplices. An investigation conducted two years ago concluded that the casino may have been targeted by criminal gangs.
A software glitch at Star Casino in Sydney, Australia, led to the casino inadvertently giving away money for several weeks, writes The Register.
3.2 million Australian dollars (or $2.05 million) were distributed by mistake.
As it turned out, for many years Star Casino had problems in compliance with Compliance (compliance with external and internal requirements), which could even call into question its license.
How did this happen
An error occurred in the "receiving and issuing money" (TICO) software. They are used by players to exchange receipts with a barcode for winnings in slot machines.
You can insert two receipts into TICO slots and receive the total amount at once, explained casino manager Nicholas Weeks.
Because of the failure, TICO returned one of these tickets and allowed it to be reused — the barcode printed on it was not recognized as paid.
"What happened was that because of this defect, small additional amounts of cash were made available to customers in circumstances where they should not have received them," Weeks told the inquiry.
"Small additional amounts" meant payments of up to two thousand Australian dollars (or $1.29 thousand), which the machine could issue at a time.
The software glitch could not be detected for more than a month. This is despite the fact that the presence of problems with TICO was known, they were revealed by a check in the summer of 2023.
An internal investigation of the new incident found "numerous failures (human and technological) that more than likely prevented detection of fraud at an earlier opportunity."
Weeks attributed these failures to "a cultural problem in some casino divisions due to the level of rigor with which controls are carried out."
An independent investigation was initiated against Star Casino, as it was considered that its response to previous inspections "did not meet expectations".
It also turned out that the casino's facial recognition systems do not work properly and do not identify the images of those who were supposed to pass a wealth source check designed to detect cases of possible money laundering. Thus, unverified individuals could still enter the casino and leave large amounts of money there.
The lucky ones are facing charges
A local publication, The Sydney Morning Herald, reported in April 2024 that news of the "free" cash spread, and at least 43 people took advantage of the TICO slot machine error at Star Casino to withdraw money they were not entitled to.
All those whom the authorities were able to clean up were charged.
One of them was a recovering gamer who "went off the rails" because of the opportunity to not spend his money and continue playing.
Another "lucky guy" is suspected of having accomplices. An investigation conducted two years ago concluded that the casino may have been targeted by criminal gangs.
