Maryland License Plates Now Inadvertently Advertising Filipino Online Casino (vice.com) 51
Roughly 800,000 Maryland drivers with license plates designed to commemorate the War of 1812 are now inadvertently advertising a website for an online casino based in the Philippines. From a report: In 2012, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, Maryland redesigned its standard license plate to read "MARYLAND WAR OF 1812." The license plates, which were the default between 2012 and 2016, have the URL www.starspangled200.org printed at the bottom.
Sometime within the last year, www.starspangled200.org stopped telling people about how Marylander Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the national anthem "The Star Spangled Banner" after watching British ships bombard Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the War of 1812 and started instead redirecting to a site called globeinternational.info, in which a blinking, bikini-clad woman advertises "Philippines Best Betting Site, Deposit 100 Receive 250."
The issue was spotted by a Redditor who said "I was never a fan of having a plate celebrating the War of 1812, but I'm even more upset now that I (and tons of other Marylanders) are driving advertisements for international online gambling." Domain registration information shows that starspangled200.org has been re-registered and transferred a handful of times within the last few years. It is not exactly clear when it stopped being a website about American history. The Internet Archive shows that as recently as December 2022, the website explained that "the young United States was embroiled in the War of 1812 and the Chesapeake Bay region felt the brunt of it." A snapshot from today, however, explains that "Extremely lenient laws govern gaming," in the Philippines. "This is a result of the growing popularity of gambling among tourists and the enormous casino resorts that have recently been built."
The issue was spotted by a Redditor who said "I was never a fan of having a plate celebrating the War of 1812, but I'm even more upset now that I (and tons of other Marylanders) are driving advertisements for international online gambling." Domain registration information shows that starspangled200.org has been re-registered and transferred a handful of times within the last few years. It is not exactly clear when it stopped being a website about American history. The Internet Archive shows that as recently as December 2022, the website explained that "the young United States was embroiled in the War of 1812 and the Chesapeake Bay region felt the brunt of it." A snapshot from today, however, explains that "Extremely lenient laws govern gaming," in the Philippines. "This is a result of the growing popularity of gambling among tourists and the enormous casino resorts that have recently been built."
Is this real (Score:2)
When reality starts to resemble an Onion article, you know things are either really, really bad or just really, really hilarious.
Re: (Score:2)
When reality starts to resemble an Onion article, you know things are either really, really bad or just really, really hilarious.
"Or"?
Re: (Score:3)
OP didn't say "xor"
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OP didn't say "xor"
I believe this library is included automatically when committing to slashdot.
Re: (Score:2)
Comments like this are why I continue to read Slashdot daily. Geek Gold.
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When reality starts to resemble an Onion article, you know things are either really, really bad or just really, really hilarious.
Did you miss the last few years? About 90% of all headlines generated since about 2012 or so could have been onion headlines, and some of the stories were even more outrageous.
Comedians in Cars (Score:2)
On the Seinfeld show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, the episode where he had Michael Richards on actually devolved into some strange real world Kramer adventure. Actual mistakes going on but in a Krameresk way. It was kind of surreal, and pretty funny in that way.
What is the draw for online gambling and casinos (Score:2)
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Online poker is different, as you are directly playing against other people. Players all have an inflated sense of being better than they actually are, so there are people who are actually good at it and take their money.
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Cheating has been rampant in online poker for many years especially by insiders. You're better off buying lottery tickets, at least some of that money goes to the state.
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The original compliance lawyer for FTX was involved in an online poker scandal. The operator of one of these online poker site slip in a code that allows certain players visibility to ALL of their opponents. This of course is illegal, and he recommended that the company shovels the whole thing under the rug.
Re:What is the draw for online gambling and casino (Score:5, Interesting)
This takes advantage of a bug in the biological challenge reward system.
Acts of minor repetitive participation that result in a series of low level disappointments with occasionally highly exciting reward spikes tricks the reward system into thinking that you're training a valuable skill.
The reward system thinks that as you get 'better' at doing it the big rewards will come more often, since that's how most skills work.
Since gambling twists that relationship apart people can instead become addicted to the anticipation of the reward even more than the reward itself, so the real reward becomes that moment when the reels are spinning and it might land on a jackpot. It's selling little bite sized nuggets of hope.
lol no (Score:1)
Lots of people like gambling because it makes things exciting that would otherwise not be. Like if you're watching a football game without gambling, why the fuck would you care which roided-up millionaire gets the sportsball in the hoop more than the other? People who watch this shit say stuff like "I watch the Superbowl for the commercials" and other idiotic shit. The point is, the game itself is incredibly dull. But if you bet $20 on the outcome, now you have a stake in the game and you care who wins or l
Bug patched (Score:2)
This takes advantage of a bug in the biological challenge reward system.
I got that bug patched by taking a physics degree that taught me how statistics work.
Re: (Score:2)
You are basically throwing your money at random number generators and vending machines that don't sell anything. If it is a game of skill I can kind of understand, but it rarely is.
How is this any different from the estimated 80% of people in the US who play the lottery? It's exactly the same concept of thowing money at a random number generator.
Re:What is the draw for online gambling and casino (Score:4, Insightful)
You are basically throwing your money at random number generators and vending machines that don't sell anything. If it is a game of skill I can kind of understand, but it rarely is.
Part of the draw for many forms of gambling is the illusion of control. The gambler isn't just pulling a slot machine lever. Rather, he's making decisions that tilt the odds in his favor. For many games like blackjack and poker, there is some form of control of the odds. The illusion is that the control is minimal and the odds still remain unfavorable. That illusion draws in casual gamblers and reels in compulsive gamblers.
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^ Quick, this guy urgently needs to see more advertisements!
And the (Score:3)
Casino will now get even more traffic from /. than it did from MD ers typing in a URL they read from a license plate
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+1 Insightful
So, NFTs. (Score:1)
How much time before fatigued simians display as porn? 3 years? 5?
Well this is boring (Score:2)
Nope. Just boring link rot and domain squatting.
Not your website (Score:2)
It's pretty foolish to have a link to a website that's not under your control on hardcopy. You can't magically go change the URL on physical media, like you could on your own website.
Ha Ha (Score:2)
Someone needs to be fired. (Score:2)
What idiot approved putting a domain that the state did not control on official license plates?
Re:Someone needs to be fired. (Score:4, Insightful)
That does not prove that the state controlled the domain.
1. Had the state owned the domain, it would have been an "md.gov" domain.
2. It could have been some historian's site, that the state got permission to put the URL on the plates
3. Nowhere does it say that the state owned it.
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“The plates' design and content originated from the War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission created in 2007. Star-Spangled 200, Inc. is the nonprofit entity affiliated with the Commission that led the efforts to raise funds for bicentennial projects and events,” they said. “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.”
Will they give up, or... (Score:2)
I could see them filing a lawsuit or some sort of order mandating ISP's forward to the intended website or block the gambling one. Backpage was shaky ground when they confiscated the domain name. If this is illegal in Maryland, what would stop them from trying?
Re: Will they give up, or... (Score:2)
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I know how it works but never underestimate a state (or any) government's stupidity to pass a law to "protect" its citizens against big scary komputirs, especially if there's gambling or (for the children) porn involved somehow.
Less than 20 minutes after waking up, (Score:1)
They had a website? (Score:2)
Those plates are so awful to look at that I never once noticed that they had a website on them.
Then again, Maryland is one of those states that issues awful plates to get you to pay extra for a nice one.
idiots in government (Score:2)
What genius decided to put a domain on a license plate that is not owned by the state of Ohio? They should be thankful its just gambling, I would have made it porn.
and why not lose all your money (Score:2)
Re:and why not lose all your money (Score:4, Insightful)
as you lost 1812.
I suppose commemorating getting booted out of another country you arrogantly invaded ("The acquisition of Canada this year will be a mere matter of marching" — Thomas Jefferson, or “We can take the Canadas without soldiers, we have only to send officers into the province and the people...will rally round our standard” — Henry Clay), having your presidential palace burned to the ground, being duped into disgracefully surrendering Detroit without a shot being fired, and failing to adequately defend your own territory, causing entire towns to be burned to the ground in retaliation for doing exactly that in your neighbor's country, is worthy of a license plate, if not a history lesson. https://youtu.be/Tq0LLB-X4is [youtu.be]
Re: and why not lose all your money (Score:2)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=... [youtube.com]
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Never register a domain for an event (Score:5, Insightful)
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Yeah, but how many people ever bother to check those ancient links when they know they are obsolete one-off events?
Heck, there are plenty of major brand names that went defunct and now they are porn sites. The web is kind of used to it by now. 8)
I bought a used ps2 game (Score:2)
Somebody does not understand how things work (Score:2)
Not really a surprise in a government worker though. Sure, there are some good ones. But generally, public administration gets the dross.
Cheap Perpetual Registration? (Score:2)
Actually the Internet Archive people should offer this as a service. Slip them $100 and they take over ownership of your domain. win win.
Good Job IANA (Score:2)