Fake Malta Licence Claims Are a Real Industry — The MGA Just Named 7 More Sites
WagerX Regulatory Intelligence
Some casinos don't earn a license. They just claim one.
It sounds too lazy to work, but it does: slap "Licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority" in the footer, maybe add a borrowed seal image, and most visitors will never check. A Malta license is one of the most respected badges in gambling — which is exactly why the badge is attractive to scammers.
The latest batch
On August 3, the Malta Gaming Authority published another public notice — the kind we track daily in our regulatory intelligence feed — declaring it has no connection with seven websites:
- spinlander.nu
- coldfootball.com
- wtboxers.com
- smartsportsdaily.com
- blackjack.com
- duelgp.com
- 56pkcasino.com
In the MGA's own words: "Any reference to the MGA and/or gaming licence/s said to be issued by the Maltese Authority, as stated by the above websites, is false and misleading."
Our tracker logged this notice the day it went out. And it's far from the first:
This isn't an occasional scam. It's a production line.
How to check a licence yourself — in 30 seconds
The good news: the MGA has a public licence search on their website. Type in a casino's name or URL, and you get a straight answer — licensed or not. No fake footer badge survives that check. If a casino claims a Malta licence, verify it at the source before you deposit a single satoshi.
Is every licensed casino good? No. But —
Let's be precise about what a licence does and doesn't tell you:
A valid licence doesn't guarantee a good casino. Licensed operators can still have slow withdrawals, hostile terms, and support that ghosts you. That's why we run real-money live tests on top of licence checks.
But a false licence claim guarantees a bad one. A casino that lies about its licence on day one will not develop a sudden respect for the truth when it's holding your withdrawal. If they fake the badge, walk away. No exceptions.
Why this is exactly what WagerX exists for
Anyone can publish a "best casinos" list — the internet has thousands of them, most written by people who never deposited a cent. A significant part of our work goes into the unglamorous side: tracking regulators across 20+ jurisdictions, logging every enforcement action, fine, and false-licence notice the day it happens, and running real-money withdrawal tests on the casinos we cover.
We don't just check whether a casino looks legitimate. We check what happens when you actually use it.
We won't give you the pink-glasses version. Sometimes that means telling you a popular casino is on hold. Sometimes it means telling you 28 sites falsely claimed one of gambling's most trusted licences in nine months. Either way, you get the full picture — and when a casino does make our recommended list, you know exactly what it survived to get there.