A software update by global cybersecurity company CrowdStrike was causing a worldwide IT failure for many industries, including media, airlines and hospitals. Entain’s gambling platforms have been forced to go offline.
Businesses using Microsoft Windows were most affected by the outage. CrowdStrike issued a Friday statement confirming that this was not an attack. The problems are instead related to “a defect found in one content update for Windows host.”
The company stated that it identified the problem and was actively working to resolve it.
The statement read: “We are sorry to hear about the disruption and inconvenience caused by this situation. We understand its gravity.” We are working closely with all customers affected to restore their systems and deliver services that customers depend on.
Multiple airlines cancelled flights on Friday, leading to severe delays for travelers in many countries. Some television stations were unable to broadcast morning shows, and some hospitals experienced problems with their scheduling systems.
Some users have been able to get back on line, but some experts say it may take time. CNN reported security expert Kenn White saying that it may “take many days” for corporate America to fully recover from the outage.
UK and US Entain Brands Down in UK
Entain, based on the Isle of Man, was the company that seemed most affected by the outage. As of 1:30 pm, the websites for Ladbrokes Sportingbet bwin BetMGM and BetMGM were down. US Pacific Time. There were error messages displayed on all homepages.
Simon Clare, from Ladbrokes Coral, provided the following statements to iGB.
As with many other global companies, Ladbrokes, Coral and some of our platform are currently experiencing IT problems. The update was done by CrowdStrike, a third-party.
We are trying to fix this problem. Some systems have been restored and others are no longer affected. “We appreciate the patience of our customers and apologize for any inconvenience.”
BetMGM had a less polished message on its site: “Something has gone wrong: The Web Server is returning an unknown Error.” This platform was just launched Wednesday, 17 July in Washington DC. BetMGM’s main US competitors, FanDuel DraftKings ESPN Bet, Fanatics Sportsbook and Fanatics Sportsbook, had no problems.
Australian Brands also Affected
Due to the problem, TAB Sportsbet and Flutter’s Sportsbet were also down in Australia. The combined market shares of both companies in Australia are around 70%.
TAB’s online and retail services were also offline, as was the case with Entain. The company did post an update on its website at 8:09 pm local time stating that their services were restored.
Sportsbet announced on X, “Technical problems are affecting some of our services including customer service.” There was no further information posted at the time of this writing.
