Maryland license plates mistakenly promote PH online casino site

The URL www.StarSpangled.org leads to “FAFA855,” which has Filipino cockfighting and other games on the site. MARYLAND MVA

Hundreds of thousands of Maryland license plates are inadvertently advertising a website for an online casino in the Philippines.

A user of the website Reddit discovered that a URL on the bottom of the Maryland license plate does not link to “Star-Spangled 200, Inc” or the “War of 1812” but to a website promoting “Philippines Best Betting Site” instead.

The www.StarSpangled.org leads to “FAFA855,” which has Filipino cockfighting and other games on the site.

The plates commemorating the War of 1812 were designed as a fundraiser for Star-Spangled 200, Inc., a nonprofit affiliated with the War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission, according to the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.

There are 798,000 active War of 1812 license plates on Maryland vehicles.

The plates have an illustration of Fort McHenry with broad stripes, bright stars and bombs bursting in air. The Star-Spangled 200’s website address is printed on those plates issued in 2010.

The current standard-issue Maryland plates feature the state’s flag.

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The MVA told news media that it “does not endorse the views or content on the current website using that URL, and is working with the agency’s IT department to identify options to resolve the current issue.”