Glitches related to a software update from global cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike caused a worldwide IT outage for several industries on Friday (19 July), including airlines, hospitals and media. On the gambling side, multiple Entain platforms were forced offline.
The outage was most felt by businesses using Microsoft Windows software. In a statement issued on Friday, CrowdStrike confirmed that the issue was not a cyberattack. Rather, the problems were related to a “defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts”.
On Friday evening the company said it had identified the issue and was working toward resolving it.
“We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption,” the statement said. “We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are backed up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on.”
Multiple airlines grounded flights on Friday, causing severe travel delays in several countries. Some TV stations couldn’t air morning broadcasts and hospitals saw disruptions with scheduling and other systems.
Some users were able to come back online but experts warn it could take a long time for others. CNN quoted security expert Kenn White as saying it could “take many, many days for much of corporate America to recover” from the outage.
Entain brands down in UK, US
Isle of Man-based Entain seemed to be the among the most impacted by the outage. The websites for its Ladbrokes, Sportingbet, Bwin and BetMGM platforms were all down as of 1.30pm US Pacific time. All had error messages on their homepages.
Simon Clare from Ladbrokes Coral provided the following statement to iGB:
“Like many global businesses, some of our platforms, including Ladbrokes and Coral, are experiencing temporary IT issues. This is due to an update by a third party, CrowdStrike.
“We are working hard to resolve this and some systems are back working and some of our shops are not affected and are back working. We appreciate customers’ patience and are sorry for any inconvenience.”
BetMGM’s site message was a little less crafted: “Something went wrong: Web server is returning an unknown error.” The platform just launched in Washington DC on Wednesday (17 July). All of BetMGM’s chief US competitors – FanDuel, DraftKings, ESPN Bet and Fanatics Sportsbook – had no issues.
Entain’s operations were back online by Sunday (21 July), as noted in a BetMGM message on social media announcing the brand had returned to normal operations.
Australian brands also impacted
In Australia, TAB and Flutter’s Sportsbet also went down due to the outage. Both companies combine for about 70% of the country’s market share.
As with Entain, TAB said that its online and retail operations were offline. However, the company posted an update at 8.09pm local time saying that its services had been restored.
Sportsbet said on X that “technical issues are disrupting some of our betting services, including customer service”. No further update was posted as of writing.
