Casino operator Macau Legend Development Ltd (MLD) is warning consumers that it has no connection with online gambling, despite what one website appears to be claiming.
This week, MLD alerted the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that a website (vip.mclegend.ga) was offering the sale of lottery products while claiming to be operating in association with MLD. The site includes numerous MLD logos and trademarks, as well as photographs of several senior MLD execs, including founder/CEO David Chow Kam Fai and executive director Sheldon Trainor-Degirolamo.
MLD insists that it has nothing to do with the Gabon-registered website, nor has MLD ever operated any online lottery sites or products. MLD urged the public not to provide the site with any personal information and warned that MLD won’t be responsible for any financial losses incurred through interaction with the bogus website.
MLD is but the latest victim of scammers attempting to piggyback on the established brands of Macau gaming operators. Previous scams have targeted operators such as Las Vegas Sands, SJM Holdings, Wynn Macau and Galaxy Entertainment Group. Last November, Macau officials said they’d asked international web hosting companies to cut access to some 237 gambling sites making unauthorized use of Macau casino brands.
The bogus website playing on MLD’s good name also bears the logo of Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), an equally suspect affiliation. For years now, the DICJ has been warning the public that it has yet to authorize any online gambling sites, let alone ones operating from small African countries.
This week, the DICJ issued a statement emphasizing its willingness to enforce the ban on promotion of unauthorized online gambling operations. The DICJ was responding to a local association’s concerns that the upcoming G2E Asia conference would result in ‘stealth’ marketing of products not legally available to Macau residents.
The Macau Daily Times reported that this same group accused unnamed operators of illegally promoting online gambling products at the 2018 G2E Asia confab. The DICJ responded that the government would make a “special effort” to ensure no such shenanigans occur at this year’s event.
