Geoblocking can be frustrating, but it’s often for a good reason. We look into why casinos use geoblocking technology, the laws surrounding it, and whether it’s safe and legal to avoid geoblocks. We’ll guide you through using a VPN to avoid getting blocked and even show you some of the best free VPN tools to use.
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Geoblocking is when an online casino blocks you from accessing the site based on your location. It knows your location, because whenever you are online, you have what’s called an IP address. You can think of your IP address as something like a digital postcode.
If the online casino you’ve chosen uses Geoblocking to ban access from certain regions, it will check your digital postcode, and if it’s within that banned region, you’ll be blocked. This can be really frustrating, but it can also be avoidable - if you know how.
Casinos use geoblocking for all kinds of reasons, but most of them are to do with gambling law in certain jurisdictions. For example, a casino that has a licence to operate in Romania, might not have a local licence for Germany. This casino might choose to use geoblocking tools to restrict access for German customers.
Another example could be a casino with an international gambling licence, allowing it to provide remote gambling to all kinds of countries. However, it might geoblock a country like the UK, as it doesn’t have enough responsible gambling tools to fulfill the legal requirement of the UK government.
The final reason that casinos use geoblocking is to do with taxation. Online casinos have to be licensed to pay tax in the countries that they offer casino games too. If a casino isn’t registered to pay tax in your country and they take bets, then they could be hit with a hefty fine.
While geoblocking can be frustrating, it’s usually the casino’s best attempt to play by the rules (and laws) of the country that you’re accessing the site from.
The good news is that while geoblocking is pretty annoying - it’s also avoidable! Some casinos have better geoblocking tools than others, but we’re yet to find one that we couldn’t find a way around. Below are the two most common ways to avoid geoblocking and access your favourite European casinos.
Some casinos know how annoying geoblocking can be and they want to help you avoid it. Stake.com is a great example of a casino that makes it easy to avoid restrictions. It’s done this by introducing Stake mirror links. These are links that players from restricted countries can use to access the casino - just from a different web address.
This lets you avoid the geoblock altogether and play on a site that you trust, without having to download anything to your mobile phone or laptop.
If the casino that you want to access doesn’t have a mirror link then the next option is to use a VPN. A VPN is a virtual private network. Remember that IP address (or digital postcode) we were talking about? A VPN essentially gives you a new digital postcode. That means that the best VPN services will bypass geoblocking restrictions with no problems, letting you gain access to your favourite European casinos from anywhere in the world.
In order to use a VPN, you’ll need to make a VPN download either as: an extension (on a browser like Chrome), or as a file that you download and install to your computer. With your VPN installed, you load it up, select a country, and you’re ready to go.
Installing a VPN is the most common way for people to access European casinos that use geoblocking. Below is a five step guide to accessing your favourite casinos using a VPN..
Choose a trusted review site like ours, or head to Google to see which countries it’s possible to access the casino from.
Not all VPN tools work across all countries. Find a VPN that definitely works for one of the countries on the allowed list for your chosen casino.
Once you’ve found the VPN you need, it’s time to download it. It’ll either come as a browser extension or as a programme you run from your desktop. Download it and follow the installation instructions.
Open up the VPN extension or app and choose the country you want to change your IP address to. Click to turn on the VPN.
With the VPN on, you can insert the address of your chosen casino and you should be able to access it no problem!
Sometimes geoblocks are put in place for customer safety, but mostly it’s to ensure that the casino remains compliant. Whether it’s for licensing, tax, or compliance issues, the casino is generally looking after its own best interests when putting geoblocks in place.
This means that choosing to bypass geoblocking could well be safe - but you could also run into some issues. The choice is yours, and only yours, to make in this instance. If you’re struggling to decide whether to bypass a geoblock and play at an EU casino anyway, consider these factors first:
There are lots of free VPNs that you can use to access EU casinos. Some are better than others, but we’ve tried out a whole lot of them and found the ones that tend to work the majority of the time. Below is a list of free VPNs that you can use as a trial, followed by another list of permanently free VPNs.
These VPN tools all offer free trials so you can try them out and see if you like them before signing up for a subscription. There are also no rules about trying out multiple free trials, so if you can be bothered, you can cycle through the lot of them before you have to part ways with any cash.
These VPNs all have a level that you can access permanently for free. Some of them allow you to use multiple devices, use an IP from multiple different countries, and easily bypass geoblocking restrictions. Others are more restricted - but hey, they’re free.
There are plenty of VPN friendly casinos out there that don’t mind you playing with a VPN. After all, some people don’t choose to use a VPN for avoiding geoblocking, instead they just use it for their own privacy. It’s common amongst many MGA online casinos, as well as those with a Curacao licence and an Anjouan licence to allow the use of a VPN.
Another category of casino that also tends to be much more accepting of VPN use is the crypto casino. Finding a vpn friendly crypto casino is surprisingly straightforward, with many of the best crypto casinos allowing EU customers of all countries to access their site with a free VPN.
Choosing a free VPN has one obvious perk - it’s free. But, how does a free VPN stack up against a paid-for subscription? Below is a quick table comparing the two so that you can see which is likely to work best for you.
Factor | Free VPN | Premium VPN |
|---|---|---|
Cost | Free | Usually €1 to €20 per month |
Countries | Fewer countries available | Many countries available |
Availability | Often usable for a limited time only | No restrictions on usage |
Technology | Sometimes not sophisticated enough to avoid geoblocking | Tends to be more effective at avoiding geoblocking |
