The web sites of William Hill, Totalbet and ukbetting have all been subject to denial of service (DOS) attacks, where a web server is flooded requests for information, overwhelming the system and ultimately crashing it. The message from the attackers – thought to be based in former Soviet Union states – is pay up or suffer further attacks.
Bookmakers' web sites have proved to be a good target for extortionists as they have identifiable peaks of business, where a DOS attack would affect profits. It was last seen in the run up to the US Superbowl in January, but over the last week UK bookmakers have been the subject of attacks, as they geared up for the Cheltenham horse festival, the biggest horse racing week of the year.
According to Reuters, William Hill, the second largest gambling company in the UK, suffered a DOS attack on 11th March, followed for a demand for £10,000.
Graham Sharpe, spokesman for William Hill, told Reuters they refused to pay, explaining, "We were targeted, but were able to take the appropriate action to minimise the nature of the disruption".
Totalbet and ukbetting were also subject to attacks, according to the London Evening Standard.
On-line gambling has been the target of more subtle attacks in the US – with full backing from the authorities.
Running an internet gambling operation is illegal in the US and in many states it is illegal for punters to gamble, on-line or off. In practice, however, it is difficult for enforcement officials to stop those sites that operate off-shore, even if within the jurisdiction of the US, as with Caribbean-based sites. It is even more difficult to stop punters using these sites or others based elsewhere in the world.
The most recent attempts to prevent US citizens gambling on-line focus on methods of paying for the gambling services. Bills to ban the use of credit cards or any other form of electronic payment for off-shore internet gambling sites are going through the Senate and House of Representatives at the moment.
One such bill was passed by the House of Representatives in October 2002, only to fall in the Senate less than three weeks later. In practice, many credit card companies refuse to process gambling transactions on a voluntary basis.
Advertising for gambling services has also been hit. According to the New York Times, prosecutors have merely had to suggest to certain advertising companies that by accepting payment from on-line gambling firms, they are leaving themselves open to accusations of "aiding and abetting" on-line gambling, for those companies to refuse to show the adverts at all. As yet, the claim has not yet been tried in court.