Macau warns players about illegal online gambling activities. These sites present themselves as safe and legal when in fact they are not.

Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau stated on its website this Friday that the government “has never issued any online interactive gaming license to any companies. Hence, all online interactive gambling websites in Macau are considered illegal operations.” The CICJ found out that some online gambling sites falsely attest to being licensed by the gaming authority and decided to post the statement on their site in order to warn prospective gamblers about the issue.

In their online letter, they also said that “unauthorized use of DICJ official website information and photos for promotional purposes without obtaining prior consent is an offence. The DICJ will not tolerate such illegal acts and will reserve the rights to pursue the matter through legal channels.”

Authorities actually have a history with illegal online gambling crack-downs and surely they will not hesitate to enforce the law in this case either. The week prior to this recent discovery Macau’s Economic Services exposed illegal gambling sites ads that had appeared into circulation after illegal operators tricked permit-granting organizations to give their seal of approval.

This is not the first time that fake casino operators have tried to profit off the back of other, legal casino businesses by introducing look-alike advertisements. From photos to trademarks and even logos, all these marketing tools have been used by these makeshift businesses in order to rake in clients and profits.