Internet Gambling

State officials said a cyberattack targeted four New Jersey gaming sites over the holiday weekend, with threats of more to come unless a ransom was paid. (Wayne Parry | AP Photo)

TRENTON -- State and federal authorities are investigating a cyber-attack on four Atlantic City online casino gaming sites, which were apparently targeted by a hacker who promised more disruption unless a ransom was paid in Bitcoin, officials said today.

New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck said the attack was launched Thursday, before the long July 4th holiday weekend, and continued through Sunday.

"At least four casinos were impacted and experienced downtime," he said. "We're continuing to monitor."

He said the four internet websites were the targets of a so-called "distributed denial of service," an attack that "floods" a network with information, rendering it inoperable. He said the attack lasted approximately 30 minutes.

According to Rebuck, the attack was followed by the threat of a more powerful and sustained attack "to be initiated 24 hours later unless a Bitcoin ransom was paid."

He did not reveal how much money was demanded in the cyber currency favored within the online world's black markets, but said the follow-up attack had the potential to not only negatively impact the targeted casinos, but also all business in Atlantic City who share the same internet service provider.

Among the agencies now investigating include the Division of Gaming Enforcement, the State Police, the FBI and the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness.

It is not the first time a casino has been targeted by hackers. Frank Cilluffo, director of the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University told a Congressional subcommittee in June that U.S. officials believed Iran to be responsible for a 2014 cyber-attack against the Sands Casino in Las Vegas, owned Sheldon Adelson. He said attack shut down PCs and servers "in a cascading IT catastrophe."

David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said online gaming sites in this country have not yet become a major target of hackers.

"It happens quite a bit offshore," he noted, referring to online gambling hosted on servers outside the United States. "Often there is a ransom demand attached."

New Jersey began allowing internet gaming in November 2013,

the third state to legalize cyberspace casinos, following Nevada and Delaware. Online wagering remains a small percentage of total revenue -- casinos won $12.5 million from people betting on computers and other devices in May, up from $10.5 million in May 2014, according to state reports.

Rebuck, while he did not name the casinos affected in the latest hacking incident, said they believe they know the individual responsible.

"He's a known actor. He's done this before," he said.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.