China has warned online sports lottery platforms to halt their sales or face the consequences.

On Monday, Chinese media outlet the Global Times reported that online sports lottery platforms were doing a brisk business following last week’s kickoff of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. There’s just one problem: Beijing officially ordered the ‘temporary’ suspension of online lottery sales over three years ago.

On Wednesday, the Global Times published a follow-up indicating that these same online platforms — including an offshoot of internet giant Tencent — were now “phasing out” their football lotteries following a public warning from China’s official lottery administration center that these platforms were playing with fire.

Beijing never formally authorized online lottery sales, but did allow two operators – 500.com and Shanghai Media Group – to participate in an online sales pilot program. Numerous other online platforms also engaged in unauthorized lottery sales but evidence of widespread corruption at provincial lottery administration centers led the government to call time on all online sales in March 2015.