diff --git a/roles/captive-portal/tasks/main.yml b/roles/captive-portal/tasks/main.yml
index aa1db0954..bea55ba92 100644
--- a/roles/captive-portal/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/captive-portal/tasks/main.yml
@@ -124,8 +124,23 @@
     name: apache2
     state: restarted
 
-- name: Restart dnsmasq
-  systemd: 
+#- name: Restart dnsmasq
+#  systemd:
+#    name: dnsmasq
+#    state: restarted
+#  when: dnsmasq_enabled
+
+# ABOVE DOES NOT WORK ON UBUNTU 16.04 -- what follows is a crude hack (seems to work!)
+
+- name: Stop dnsmasq
+  systemd:
     name: dnsmasq
-    state: restarted
+    state: stopped
   when: dnsmasq_enabled
+
+- name: Start dnsmasq
+  systemd:
+    name: dnsmasq
+    state: started
+  when: dnsmasq_enabled
+