Bitcoin Gambling Guide to VPNs
Gambling with Bitcoin is largely unregulated and players from across the world choose to bet online with the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin gambling is legal in many countries, but some casinos will choose to block players from certain locations where online gambling is banned. Fortunately however, Bitcoin’s inherent anonymity combined with a virtual private network (VPN) can enable gamblers to sidestep this issue, opening up an enormous world of Bitcoin gambling to anyone who wishes to bet online. To find out everything there is to know about Bitcoin gambling with a VPN, use our navigation below:
- What is a Virtual Private Network (VPN)?
- Is it legal to use a VPN for Bitcoin gambling?
- Setting up a VPN for Bitcoin gambling
- Do VPNs always work?
- What are the best VPNs for gambling with Bitcoin?
What is a Virtual Private Network (VPN)?
A VPN secures a gambler’s connection and adds another layer of privacy by altering their location. VPNs have typically been associated with large corporations looking to secure data, but individuals are now increasingly buying VPNs for personal use such as Bitcoin gambling. A user with access to a VPN provider can tunnel their connection into another country, changing the IP address from which their requests originate and masking their physical location with another. By using a VPN in this way, Bitcoin casinos have difficulty detecting a player’s location and location-based blocking can be easily bypassed.
Using a VPN for personal and gambling use – particularly for Bitcoin players – is rapidly increasing in popularity. As a result, many VPN providers now offer fantastic features and user-friendly interfaces with no need for any technical know-how. The best available Bitcoin gambling VPNs are shown further below on this page.
Is it legal to use a VPN for Bitcoin gambling?
Many countries have heavily regulated or entirely banned online gambling. A number of countries have also applied the same force to Bitcoin, although the list of countries in which Bitcoin is illegal is small. We have a short guide to Bitcoin gambling legality but this doesn’t account for whether using a VPN is legal or not. So is it legal to use a VPN for Bitcoin gambling?
VPNs are legal in the vast majority of countries. Countries that have banned VPNs entirely include:
- China
- Iran
- N. Korea
Using a VPN for Bitcoin gambling may or may not be legal depending on a country’s gambling laws. Using a VPN “per se” is not a illegal in itself. It is only a problem if the VPN is used to conduct illegal activities.
Despite this, many Bitcoin gamblers choose to use VPNs in countries where online gambling is illegal. By using a VPN a player is able to circumvent these laws, but the player chooses to do so at their own risk. The risk of using a VPN for Bitcoin gambling is unknown, but there is no record of anyone being arrested for gambling with Bitcoin with or without a VPN. The most high profile case of an arrest made for Bitcoin gambling relates back to the temporary shutdown of SealsWithClubs.eu several years ago. No individual has ever been prosecuted.
Setting up a VPN for Bitcoin gambling
Whether choosing to bet as a desktop or mobile Bitcoin gambler, setting up a VPN is often a very straightforward process. A VPN provider such as HideMyAss.com (HMA) offers PC, Mac, iOS and Android versions of their software and all can be installed with ease. The setup process is also simple, just choose a location from the available cities (there are hundreds) and hit “connect”. Within a matter of seconds the player’s IP address will be tunnelled to the city of their choosing. As an example, if a player was located in the USA and wanted to bet Bitcoin at a casino which accepted players from Germany; the player could use a VPN like HMA to switch their IP address to Berlin or Munich and access would be granted.
There are many more VPNs available than just HMA. Use our list below to find our most recommended virtual private network solutions – as well as ones which accept Bitcoin payments.
Do VPNs always work?
The reality is that Bitcoin casinos want new business whether a player is from Kentucky or Istanbul. It is not the casinos’ decision to ban a player from playing, but rather it is the laws and regulation around Bitcoin gambling that forces them to. For this reason, many casinos do the minimum required by law to deter players from betting, often meaning that a VPN will work at the Bitcoin casino and that no effort is made to block VPN use. This scenario is very dissimilar to the likes of Netflix, a company that infamously disabled VPN access as a means to stop viewers watching content from other countries.
On the other hand, some casinos will be required to do “know your customer” (KYC) and anti money laundering (AML) checks as part of their regulatory requirements. Those casinos that take part in KYC and AML will ultimately block player funds if they are moved to a location which is not legally allowed. In this instance, even a working VPN connection will still ultimately fail.
A player’s best bet when using a VPN for Bitcoin gambling is to bet at an anonymous Bitcoin casino where no personal details are required. These Bitcoin casinos also tend to be decentralized and open source, making their service extremely reliable and secure. That said, it is always important that players do not store significant Bitcoin funds in any online casino to avoid risk of theft or loss.
What are the best VPNs for gambling with Bitcoin?
Choosing a VPN for Bitcoin gambling mainly comes down to the price and its availability on the platform of the player’s choosing (Mac, PC, Android or iOS). For the average user, the service offered by each VPN provider is very similar from one product to the next. Gamblers looking for a more technical VPN offering should conduct further research. Here is our list of the best VPNs available, including ones which accept Bitcoin payment options.
- IPVanish (Bitcoin accepted here)
- VPNArea (Bitcoin accepted here)
- HideMyAss.com
- VyprVPN
- NordVPN (Bitcoin accepted here)
