Almost 1 million American number plates link to gambling website

A URL stamped at the bottom of a Maryland number plate commemorating the War in 1812 now redirects to a gambling site in the Philippines.

The number plates were rolled out between 2012 and 2016 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, and included a URL at the bottom of the plate for a site called the Star-Spangled 200.

As reported by Vice, however, the domain registration expired and changed hands and as of December 2022, the link now redirects to a website advertising “Philippines Best Betting Site”.

“The MVA 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,” a spokesperson from Maryland’s Motor Vehicle Administration told Vice.

The agency confirmed there are currently 798,000 active War of 1812 licence plates.

The original site provided visitors with tourist information in Maryland, and later highlighted the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail.

It’s unclear what will happen now the MVA is involved.