diff --git a/evennia/server/portal/telnet.py b/evennia/server/portal/telnet.py
index e561953f1..3c6830a67 100644
--- a/evennia/server/portal/telnet.py
+++ b/evennia/server/portal/telnet.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ _IDLE_COMMAND = str.encode(settings.IDLE_COMMAND + "\n")
 
 # identify HTTP indata
 _HTTP_REGEX = re.compile(
-    b"(GET|HEAD|POST|PUT|DELETE|TRACE|OPTIONS|CONNECT|PATCH) (.*? HTTP/[0-9]\.[0-9])", re.I
+    b"(GET|HEAD|POST|PUT|DELETE|TRACE|OPTIONS|CONNECT|PATCH) (.*? HTTP/[0-9]\\.[0-9])", re.I
 )
 
 _HTTP_WARNING = bytes(