About 15% of registered vehicle license plates in Maryland have been unwittingly advertising a gambling website in the Philippines for more than a decade.
The license plates in question commemorate the War of 1812, which was the inspiration for the US national anthem. They show a website URL that’s supposed to provide information about the commemoration. Instead, it redirects people to the gambling site in the Philippines. This is the case for about 798,000 of the 5.2 million license plates in Maryland.
The gambling site showcases information about different gambling options in the Philippines, including virtual cockfighting, and also contains links to an online casino.
first issued the license plates in June 2010
Maryland’s Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA), which had made clear it does not endorse the gambling website, first issued the license plates in June 2010. The body’s annual report in 2014 estimated that the free publicity from the plates up to that point was the equivalent of more than $36.5m worth of paid media advertising.
Efforts are ongoing to resolve the issue. It is unclear if the state plans to issue new plates and how much this would cost.