There are many countries, states, or workplaces that do not allow access to gambling online. They implement restrictions and monitoring systems that track your every step. Most of the time betting websites are blocked by ISPs or filtered out in a workplace. Luckily, there is an easy way to unblock gambling websites and hide your traffic from ISP no matter where you are – and it’s using a VPN.
Why is online gambling restricted?
Of the 195 recognized countries in the world today, 56 of them have significant legal regulations in place to restrict gambling, and 10 of them have banned online gambling altogether. In order to comply with international law, most gambling websites use geo-blocking to deny access to gamblers from countries where online gambling is illegal.
The motivations for making online gambling illegal differ from country to country, with social, political, and religious factors all playing a part. Traditional (offline) gambling is illegal in nearly all countries where Islam is the majority religion. However, many have not gotten round to legislating against online gambling or do not have the infrastructure to prevent their citizens from accessing online casinos.
Other countries such as China and North Korea have banned their own citizens from gambling, but it is legal for foreign tourists to gamble while they are visiting.
These are the best VPN providers for accessing online betting and gambling sites abroad:
NordVPN
Advantages | Disadvantages |
NordLynx protocol is a game changer | User experience could still be improved |
Some great value subscription options | – |
Brilliant at unblocking | – |
Quality mobile and desktop clients | – |
ExpressVPN
Advantages | Disadvantages |
Top marks across the board | Fewer simultaneous connections than some |
Easy to run on almost any platform | – |
Enterprise-level encryption | – |
Superb 24/7 live customer support | – |
Speedy VPN servers in 90+ countries | – |
Surfshark
Advantages | Disadvantages |
Excellent unblocking | Lacks the speeds of the top two |
A dream to use | Some functionality missing |
Unlimited devices covered | – |
Unbeatable on price | – |
Hotspot Shield
Advantages | Disadvantages |
Reasonably priced | Mobile apps could be improved |
Astonishing connection speeds | – |
Super-easy to use | – |
ProtonVPN
Advantages | Disadvantages |
Loads of features | Not as fast as most |
Free plan with unlimited bandwidth | No live chat support available |
Improving all the time | – |
Once you have a VPN you should be able to access sites as normal. Note that not all VPNs are compatible with all sports betting, gambling and fantasy sports sites. We’ve considered this when ranking the VPN providers above.
Once you have checked you are not flouting any local or national legislation by betting, follow these steps to access your usual home betting services from anywhere.
How to Unblock casino sites abroad?
Each of our recommended VPNs has custom apps for all popular platforms. That means you can install the VPN and use it on any device. They even have Android VPN and iOS VPN apps, making it easy for you to unblock your favorite online gambling apps on the go.
Unblocking online gambling sites is extremely easy once you have a VPN, but to help you out we have explained the steps below:
- Choose a VPN from this guide and click on the link to its website.
- Subscribe to the VPN.
- Download the VPN provider’s app onto your computer and/or install the mobile app onto your smartphone or tablet if you wish to gamble on them.
- Install the VPN and choose a VPN server in the location where the gambling site is available. Click Connect.
- If the online betting service offers a mobile application, download that to your device. Alternatively, head over to the gambling website in your browser by choosing to see the desktop site on mobile.
- As long as your VPN is connected you should be able to access any foreign betting site and make bets. However, you may need a local payment method. For this, you can opt to get a virtual card.
Use An IP Address Instead of A Domain Name
If you are lucky, this trick might work. You just have to type the IP address of the website instead of the domain name. You can find the IP address of a particular website using a tool like Whois, or using your command prompt and typing “ping thewebsitename.com” without quotes.
In Which Countries is Online Gambling prohibited?
There are only a few places in the world where online gambling is completely legal. These include Canada, most countries in the European Union, some countries in the Caribbean, and some states in the USA. In most other countries, online gambling is banned or at least heavily restricted. However, a lot of these countries don’t enforce this ban as much as others do. A lot of countries have strict laws when it comes to ‘offline’ gambling, but failed to introduce new laws when online gambling became a thing. This means that the rules regarding online gambling can be quite vague in certain countries. Some countries basically turn a blind eye to online gambling, while others actually go after people gambling online. In most Islamic countries, gambling is banned outright. This includes online gambling.
If you’re unsure if gambling (whether it be online or offline gambling) is illegal in your country, consult with a local expert to figure out what you can and cannot do.