What is VPN and what can it do for you?
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a safe and secure way to access geo-blocked casino sites, or VPN casinos. VPN applications route your internet traffic through one of their servers in an unblocked location, allowing you to access any site you’d like!
The Best VPNs for Online Casino
Before you embark on the wonderful cross-country journey that is using a VPN for online gambling, there are a couple of things you should keep in mind first. It’s important to note that some countries outright ban the use of VPNs. In other countries, VPNs might be outlawed to access online casinos, even if they are otherwise legal.
NordVPN has over eight million customers around the world making it one of the most popular VPNs, so we were excited to test it. Overall, it performed swimmingly; we used to it torrent films and watch TV on Netflix with pretty insignificant slowdowns
PureVPN is one of the best VPNs for travel, with more than 6,500 servers in over 140 countries including the U.K., Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. This made it easy for us to travel without joining shady Wi-Fi networks and running into internet censorship. PureVPN hid our browsing history and IP address so we could be more anonymous online.
IPVanish worked really well on our Android devices, with strong encryption methods, great download speeds, and split tunneling, which really helped us out when we were working from home. Plus, unlike many other VPN companies on the market, IPVanish has really fantastic customer support, available 24/7 over email, phone, or live chat.
CyberGhost has over 7,300 servers in 91 different countries, so although we only tested it out in the United States, wherever in the world you are, you shouldn’t have trouble connecting. The company is based in Romania, not a member of those international surveillance networks we keep mentioning; plus, Romania as a country has almost no data retention laws of its own, making CyberGhost a great pick for privacy.
Surfshark made it easy for us to torrent and download movies and TV shows without fear of retribution. With unlimited devices per subscription, this VPN gave us a different IP address every time we connected, which makes tracing much harder; however, if we wanted to stick with the same IP address, that was an option as well
Hide My Ass (HMA) is a UK-based company that uses the slogan “More VPN for your money.” This provider has seen its fair share of controversy with regards to user privacy, but has made changes in the hopes of winning back the loyalty of its subscribers.
Do I Need a VPN?
Ever been browsing for a new casino, only to find that your top contender doesn’t accept players from your country? If you’ve come across this situation, you’re familiar with the frustration associated with it.
Casino sites can find out which country you’re trying to access their site from using your IP Address. This digital label is an integral part of how the internet functions. Because of that, you might be asking yourself: “How could I possibly change which country I appear to be playing from?”.
That’s where a VPN casino comes in really handy! As we covered in the introduction, VPNs are special programmes that tunnel your internet traffic through another country. Using VPN casinos makes you appear as if you’re browsing from a different country than your own. Tons of geographically restricted websites are now unlocked at your fingertips, including that top contender casino from earlier!
VPNs and Withdrawal Methods
Of course, it’s not just your IP address that links you to your real country of origin. Your payment method of choice might also be linked to your geographical location. Most credit cards and some e-wallet accounts are tied to your country.
Because of this, while playing at a casino site using a VPN might go smoothly, but you could encounter problems when it comes to withdrawing funds. This could really feel like a kick in the teeth if you’ve just landed a huge win. True VPN Casinos provide an option for players to withdraw their funds without having to give up data related to their location.
Of course, this problem doesn’t apply for you at all if you are simply using a VPN while travelling abroad. You could always withdraw the funds once you are back home. For other users though, it’s good to make sure that the casino supports withdrawal methods that are more private when it comes to their physical location.
VPNs and Cryptocurrencies
Payment method anonymity is where cryptocurrencies come in. You’ve undoubtedly heard of Bitcoin, but there are also other cryptocurrencies such as Etherium, DogeCoin, Litecoin, and many others!
These digital currencies allow for complete anonymity when it comes to your identity and geographical location. This makes them the perfect pairing with a VPN, removing any casino geo-restrictions. VPN Casinos will generally have great support for these, providing privacy and security, ultimately rights for any player!
Laws and Regulations
Depending on your country of origin, both online gambling and VPNs themselves might be outlawed. There are various reasons as to why either of them might be banned, ranging from the religious, social, or political.
More than 50 countries around the world have significant restrictions on online gaming, making casino games difficult or almost impossible to access. Most countries use IP-Location-based blocking, which is what VPNs circumvent.
We don’t advise or recommend using VPNs to do anything that is illegal in your country. Always check the laws in your jurisdiction as well as the regulations of the casino you’re playing at.
What this practically means is that you should be looking out for two kinds of regulations:
The first is related to your country of origin, and whether it allows people to make use of VPNs to circumvent local regulations. VPNs are such a recent technology to make it to users’ computers that you’ll often find that countries do not have regulations specific to them, making their legality quite vague.
The second is related to your casino of choice’s policy toward VPN use. Some casinos are completely happy to accept VPN users, with 0 repercussions for VPN use. We’ve included some of these above in case you’re looking for them. Others have a strict no-VPN policy. While it’s difficult for casinos to suss out VPN use, getting caught might mean losing your deposit, or all your winnings!
Best Countries to Switch to When Using a VPN
When considering what countries are best to pick with your VPN, one thing you have to keep in mind is the speed of your connection. If you’re starting off with a slow internet connection out of the gate, you might find that your VPN casino experience isn’t quite up to scratch. Since VPNs will be routing your traffic through another computer before it reaches the target website, there will be some additional time taken. An already-slow connection might not be able to handle that extra hit.
With that said, some countries are objectively better than others for casinos that allow VPN. Malta is a fairly obvious choice. Home to one of the more prestigious and well-respected gaming licenses in the world, it’s easy to see why Malta is a top contender. A lot of the casino sites operate out of the country, so you’ll be right next door to the best of the best – metaphorically speaking of course.
Perhaps the only places that can live up to Malta in that regard are other European countries due to a wide range of excellent connections thanks to the continent’s technological prowess. Additionally, liberal gambling laws and world-class licensing and regulation systems mean a huge amount of trustworthy, top-class bookmakers.
