Last week’s catastrophic Microsoft outage grounded global travel and brought many businesses and industries to a standstill. The cyber infrastructure meltdown impacted not only the United States but major gaming hubs in Asia as well. In China’s Macau, the only region under the control of the People’s Republic where casino gambling is permitted, at least three of the six casino operators confirmed operational deficiencies due to the Microsoft breakdown. Macau’s Judiciary Police confirmed Monday that the IT systems of three casino concession firms were among the affected networks, though they did not identify the specific companies involved. The city’s Cybersecurity Incident Alert and Response Center (CARIC) is closely monitoring the situation. According to Macau officials, the overall impact of this global cyber security incident on the city is relatively limited and controlled. Unlike in the US, where many casino resorts, including those on the Las Vegas Strip, experienced disruptions with guest check-ins and some gaming operations, Macau’s issues were confined to back-of-house operations. Consequently, Macau casino guests did not notice any significant impacts from the IT glitch. The three casino companies in Macau reported the Microsoft incident resulted in their internal computer systems malfunctioning; however, no casino operations were directly affected. These companies manage numerous resorts and satellite gaming venues across the region.
In Manila, the Solaire Resort & Casino in Entertainment City experienced widespread impacts on its casino floor. Reports indicated that over the weekend, many of the casino’s nearly 2,000 slot machines displayed blue-colored error screens. Solaire is owned and operated by Bloomberry Resorts, which recently opened Solaire North, a $1 billion integrated resort casino just an hour’s drive north of Entertainment City. There were no media reports indicating that the Microsoft outage impacted Solaire North.
The root of the issue dates back to July 18 when cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike released a software update that caused the global Microsoft outage. The update affected millions of computers and networks running on the Microsoft Windows operating system. CrowdStrike, which manages the security of many Windows PCs and business network services around the world, quickly identified and isolated the glitch, and subsequently deployed a fix. Most affected computers have since been restored and business operations have largely returned to normal, though ongoing issues with Delta Airlines persist. The Microsoft outage disrupted casino and resort operations, took websites offline, knocked television stations off the air, and grounded thousands of flights. Microsoft commented on the incident, stating that it highlights the interconnected nature of today’s technology ecosystem, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing safe deployment and disaster recovery.
