The Malta Gaming Authority has published notice of 12 unauthorised gambling websites identified in September 2026, all falsely claiming Maltese licensing.
The sites, including katosports.com, caswino-pokies.com, ritzo-hungary.com, and nine others across European and regional domains, use the MGA's name to attract players while operating entirely outside the regulator's oversight. None hold valid licences from Malta.
The move repeats the MGA's standing enforcement posture: publish a list, remind consumers that unlicensed operators provide no player protections, and direct them to the official registry of authorized entities. The Authority maintains a growing full list of unauthorised URLs updated as sites are identified.
Enforcement at scale, consumer trust at risk
Fraud-site tactics remain unchanged: operators register lookalike domains, claim fictitious Maltese credentials, and rely on search visibility and word-of-mouth to reach unaware players. The MGA's remedy is public naming. The cost to operators is reputational only if enforcement against their payment processors and affiliate networks follows. Consumers who transact with unauthorised entities bear the actual risk: no recourse on disputes, no segregation of funds, no responsible-gambling tools.
This batch mirrors the pattern from prior months: new sites emerge faster than regulators can list them. As our coverage of the UK's illegal-market disruption showed, the UKGC is now investing in traffic interdiction and payment rails as well as naming. The MGA's naming-and-listing approach, effective for brand-conscious operators in regulated markets, has not yet bent the curve on fraud-site supply.
The notice carries no new enforcement action against operators or infrastructure providers. It is only the list and the reminder.