Surveillance system malfunction closed Jake's 58 for hours Wednesday, OTB's Boyle says

Jake's 58 casino in Islandia was shut down nearly all of Wednesday because of "a malfunction with the casino’s surveillance system," according to Suffolk OTB president Phil Boyle on Thursday. 

The video lottery casino was closed to customers Wednesday morning after workers discovered the issue at 7 a.m., Boyle said. The casino reopened about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday, he added.

Regular operating hours are from 8 a.m. to 4 a.m. daily.

New York State Gaming Commission spokesperson Lee Park, in an email Thursday, said "a technical issue involving the surveillance system ... temporarily prevented the facility from operating."

"No patron’s personally identifiable information or any other sensitive information was compromised," Park said in the email.

Boyle did not reveal the nature of the issue on Wednesday. On Thursday, he texted Newsday: "The problem involved a malfunction with the casino’s surveillance system.  According to New York State’s very strict gaming regulations, casinos cannot operate unless there is adequate surveillance in all areas of the facility." 

Boyle did not provide more information about how the malfunction impacted the casino's surveillance or what specific system it affected, but he said the issue was resolved by technicians and the casino is "open for business."

What caused the malfunction also remained unclear. Boyle said technicians are still investigating but are confident it was not a targeted cyberattack.

A Suffolk County police spokesperson confirmed the agency had a presence at Jake's 58 on Wednesday. The spokesperson did not immediately provide additional information.

A "cybersecurity event" shut down Jake's 58 for three days in October 2023, Newsday previously reported. Officials said the shutdown, which also affected a Resorts World casino in Newburgh, stemmed from the upstate office of the Las Vegas-based company that operates New York’s video lottery machines.

The casino was evacuated for about two hours last September when workers fell ill from a "chemical smell," officials said at the time.

Jake's 58 is undergoing a $210 million expansion that includes 1,000 additional video gambling stations, hundreds more parking stalls and refurbished hotel rooms.

Jake's 58 took in the equivalent of $413.3 million worth of wagers last month, out of which $384.5 million was returned to players in the form of prizes such as free hotel room stays and meals, according to data published on the state Gaming Commission website.

The casino's profits — about $27 million last month, according to commission online records — are distributed to a state fund for public schools, the horse racing industry and Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. vendors.

The casino opened on Feb. 27, 2017, in the former Islandia Marriott Long Island hotel on the North Service Road of the Long Island Expressway. Dozens of customers had lined up outside the casino before the doors opened to use 265 video lottery terminals.

The casino later expanded to 1,000 terminals.

Newsday's Nicholas Grasso contributed to this story.