Hackers yesterday defaced the French language version of the Euromillions website, taking down the homepage and replacing it with a passage from the Koran that condemns gambling as the “Devil’s work”.

The message was posted in both French and Arabic by a mysterious group calling itself the “Moroccanghosts”. It goes on to describe in details how the evils of gambling and alcohol should be avoided, as they are designed to “turn people away from God”, reports the BBC.

“Oh you believers. Wine, games of chance, statues all augur impurity and are the work of the devil,” read a second message.

Francaise des Jeux (FDJ), operator of the Euromillions lottery in France, was forced to take the website offline following the hack, although it said that none of its other games had been affected.

The website has since been repaired and is now back online, but a twitter account bearing the same name as the hackers hinted that this attack could just be the start of a campaign against sites that promote gambling and alcohol:

“After hours … will penetrate the global gambling sites .. (O ye who believe alcohol and gambling …”

The MorrocanGhosts posted a number of similar threats to its Facebook account, where many users have posted in support of the group’s actions.

More than four million Muslims are said to be living in France, making it home to the largest Islamic population of any Western European nation. The Euromillions lottery is available in a total of nine EU countries, including Austria, Belgium, Britain, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.