Malta Regulator Warns of Three Fake Casino Sites Impersonating Licensees

The Malta Gaming Authority has publicly named three active websites impersonating MGA-licensed operators, publishing a warning notice on Wednesday, July 16. The regulator says the sites mislead consumers into believing they are licensed under Malta's Gaming Act when they have no connection to the Authority whatsoever.

The MGA notice identifies the offending domains as:

• manekicasino(.)bet
• dragonaracasino(.)uk(.)com
• slot-hunter(.)at.

The regulator declared that any reference to the MGA or to gaming licences supposedly issued by it on these domains is false and misleading. The naming pattern is deliberate: two of the three piggyback on real brands, mimicking Maneki Casino and Malta's long-running Dragonara Casino with lookalike domains on alternative extensions.

How Can Players Verify a Licence?

The MGA flagged the notice as part of a wider pattern of impersonation sites, not an isolated case. Cloned casinos are a growing scam vector because they harvest deposits and identity documents while offering zero recourse: no dispute process, no player fund protection, no responsible gambling safeguards.

The regulator urges players to check any operator against its official Licensee Register before depositing.

What This Means for Players

Never trust a licence claim printed on a casino's own website. Verify the exact domain in the regulator's register, since impostor sites routinely swap extensions like .bet or .uk.com onto genuine brand names. Expect the MGA's list of unauthorized URLs to keep growing as it flags further clones.