Which casinos have IP blocks in place for restricted countries?

[Betcoin.AG]

Betcoin staff replied as I was writing this, I'm going to assume that merely accessing the site through a VPN while living in a restricted place isn't going to get your account closed and you'd be able to withdraw normally.

We ask that players not use a VPN or any IP masking tool to access accounts from banned regions, as this is a term of our license. That said, unless a player is using it to abuse other terms of service (ie.. creating multiple accounts to abuse bonuses, limits, promos, use banned software etc...) we will always do our best to treat them fairly. We do reserve the right to use KYC procedures on players, but it is incredibly rare and only done in cases of suspected fraud. We also have some regions that are not banned by our license, but because the large majority of players from those regions have been fraudulent.

As the Bitcoin community knows well, there are many people who make it their life's work to defraud people. Unfortunately, the use of VPN, proxy, VPS etc.. to commit fraud is quite common, and sites are not always able to disclose publicly the exact details, for security purposes. What we mean by that, is if an illegitimate player discovers our security methods, it will make it easier for them to get around that method in the future. If the player insists that the detection method be disclosed, we advise them to seek 3rd party mediation. We are happy to disclose full details to the mediator.

The easiest thing for everyone is for players to abide by the terms of service for the site. If you use a VPN and we ask you where you are playing and you lie, it looks suspicious that you are lying. Meanwhile, you may just be lying to protect yourself, because you know you are playing from a banned region. It forces sites to be put in difficult situations, possibly violate the terms of their license and spend extra time determining the reason for the deception.

Edited: Added additional info

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[swogerino]

It is true that Sportsbet restricts Usa,Germany and Netherlands however if you go to the site with an IP from those countries you are told straight away a message that says unfortunately Sportsbet is not available in your region.They don’t let you register and then when you withdraw they say you break their Tos.

[ralle14]

I did a few test on Cloudbet to see if i'll get the restricted message in the home page like this one. It appeared a few times when using an IP from the UK but after using another vpn service it seems that the restriction message is inconsistent. The IPs I used are from USA, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore since these are the specific countries mentioned in their terms.

[-CryptoViking-]

Great job OP. Good initiative and hope this will bear some fruit in the end. If this will help to make gambling sites operate more transparently and save some people for the TOS hell it will be well worth it. There are a lot of grey areas and the more we are able to reduce it, the better. Both for the casino operators and the customers.

[bunglor]

This is great a compiled information about which casinos do IP blocks does not all casino block users if their IP is prohibited? I can say that's those casinos does not really care about players.

[Betcoin.AG]

This is great a compiled information about which casinos do IP blocks does not all casino block users if their IP is prohibited? I can say that's those casinos does not really care about players.

Agreed, it is an important post for both players and operators, however the list is not accurate. We cannot speak for the other sites listed, but Betcoin absolutely blocks restricted regions. Either OP was able to access Betcoin from restricted regions because his account was created prior to our licensing or the VPN he is using is not accurately representing the regions, based on our detection. The latter happens fairly often, but only with VPN. We get many emails from upset players each day, because they cannot create accounts from US or UK.

[Debonaire217]

Agreed, it is an important post for both players and operators, however the list is not accurate. We cannot speak for the other sites listed, but Betcoin absolutely blocks restricted regions. Either OP was able to access Betcoin from restricted regions because his account was created prior to our licensing or the VPN he is using is not accurately representing the regions, based on our detection. The latter happens fairly often, but only with VPN. We get many emails from upset players each day, because they cannot create accounts from US or UK.

Would it be better if sites will be restricting IP's even if the user was already created their account before when licensing is still not yet available? Because for me, if they will allow users who have registered before but in a country which is restricted, it could be easy for others to create account using VPN in other country and use it to the platform itself. Thus, they can freely play even if they are in a country which is restricted.

[Pmalek]

I did a few test on Cloudbet to see if i'll get the restricted message in the home page like this one. It appeared a few times when using an IP from the UK but after using another vpn service it seems that the restriction message is inconsistent. The IPs I used are from USA, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore since these are the specific countries mentioned in their terms.

Thanks for testing. I will check Cloudbet in my second batch of casinos to see what results I get.

@-CryptoViking- @bunglor
Thanks!

Either OP was able to access Betcoin from restricted regions because his account was created prior to our licensing or the VPN he is using is not accurately representing the regions, based on our detection. The latter happens fairly often, but only with VPN.

First of all, thank you for being the first casino who showed interest in commenting on this topic!

I was able to access Betcoin and browse around on it without any problems with IPs both from the East and West Coast of the USA. Your post made me curious so I will now do an additional test and try to go through the registration process of a new account while on a US IP and see how that goes.

I will edit this post after I am done. 
Edit: After an additional test with 2 different IPs from the US and 1 from the UK, Betcoin was right when they claimed that there is an IP ban when you try to register for a new account from a restricted location! Users are still free to browse the site and I was even able to play a bit of Blackjack in DEMO mode.



When you click on the login/join button, you are still not blocked and you can see the login fields. However, clicking on the Create new account tab triggers an IP ban. I did not notice this the first time and I most have misunderstood the login tab for the register tab. 

I will now edit the results in the 2nd post of this topic. Thank you Betcoin!   

[VanityWallets2015]

Agreed, it is an important post for both players and operators, however the list is not accurate. We cannot speak for the other sites listed, but Betcoin absolutely blocks restricted regions. Either OP was able to access Betcoin from restricted regions because his account was created prior to our licensing or the VPN he is using is not accurately representing the regions, based on our detection. The latter happens fairly often, but only with VPN. We get many emails from upset players each day, because they cannot create accounts from US or UK.

Would it be better if sites will be restricting IP's even if the user was already created their account before when licensing is still not yet available? Because for me, if they will allow users who have registered before but in a country which is restricted, it could be easy for others to create account using VPN in other country and use it to the platform itself. Thus, they can freely play even if they are in a country which is restricted.

I do partly agree with you. Eliminating of players from restricted region is one way to make this less complicated.
Although, by doing that, their freedom to gamble are also being restricted. I guess VPN is not always the answer? Enlighten me on that.
But at least this thread could give a heads up to player in deciding where to register and watch out for those sites with IP bans.

[Pmalek]

Chips.gg is the second casino that reached out. According to them, they will discuss their platform setup internally, and I hope some IP bans can soon be introduced.

Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding the potential problems you feel this could cause players in the future. We appreciate you taking the time to share this and we will address this issue in our next development update.

[famososMuertos]

If someone always reads TOS, they are the cheaters, in fact they are the most informed.

The issue here is simple, you must be aware  find the "conditions of service," etc. and should be read. Only someone who is a novice can put money in a casino or win a prize and then not withdraw it, for something as simple as being prohibited. And then whose fault is it?

In the first instance the casino will freeze the money and then the ban. You claim and it is so simple that in the conditions of service that you accept when registering, the countries that are prohibited appear.

-In the first instance, check, read and look for that information.

-If you are lazy, look for a casino with good support and ask. If it does not offer you this, do not waste time, as I always say the best support solves your concerns, simple questions and general any "timely" and "inopportune" question that occurs to you.

Think about it, if they are not able to answer your questions, how will they with real problems.

There is a casino on that list that does not block the country, although it appears restricted, the reason is that some casinos know that many users today use VPN or browsers and change the country randomly, so let's say you connect with browser, VPN, proxy, Ghost, etc. so  is assigned to you "x country"  even if the country is restricted, you are accepted, technically accepts you, but Yes/not legally (terms of service).

Actually some casinos also assume the opposite, that you are from a permitted country but you are using a VPN and they assign you a restricted country. So the conditions of service prevail and not the techniques.

Is the above okay? technically and legally "see site conditions," if and only if for example the site supports the use of VPN, if it does not support it and it is written, you should disconnect and register without VPN or whatever you use. If nothing is written, this means that the good faith of the users prevails.

That is to say, in practice what you do is of great help, because it saves users discomfort for those who do not understand, but the technicality of the "legal" registration for some casinos is in its conditions and the user is governed by them, It is not the casino's obligation to "have" to prohibit you, so you should know that it is wrong to do so.

The presumption of good faith between the parties is governed by the contract that is accepted when registering.

In conclusion, what they write in the conditions of service strictly prevails.

[Pmalek]

I spoke to a friendly Stake.com support agent today and told here about my findings when I tested their Casino for IP bans. I asked her why there are bans on IPs from France and the US, but no ban on UK IPs.

She told me that If I tried creating a new account while on a UK IP, the site wouldn't allow me. A very curious situation, but she is absolutely right.
When you enter Stake.com with a US/French IP, you see a pop-up that says that you are not allowed to use their services. When you do the same thing with a UK IP, you don't get that notification!

But when you fill in the registration form and click on the submit button, you will see a pop-up that notifies you that your region is restricted from Stake.com and you cannot register.

I find it a bit unusual that the system isn't setup the same way for all countries, but the fact remains that they still have an active IP ban for UK players. I will edit my 2nd post in this thread and correct the results.

Thanks for the explanation Jelena!

[coinlocket$]

I think is DNS blocked by ISP, not IP blocked, or I'm wrong

[big_daddy]

~

You can add Sportsbet.io UK ip address ban, it redirects you to this site https://www.sportsbetio.uk/sports/
I’m using my mobile data from Croatia when in the UK to access the site

[Pmalek]

I think is DNS blocked by ISP, not IP blocked, or I'm wrong

What do you mean?

You can add Sportsbet.io UK ip address ban, it redirects you to this site https://www.sportsbetio.uk/sports/

That is interesting, I didn't notice redirections when I accessed Sportsbet from other locations. There is just a notification that the site is unavailable for players from your region. I wonder why casinos use different notifications/pop-ups depending on the country you are accessing the site from?!

In case of Sportsbet, it makes sense to redirect the players to their UK branch, but have a look at what I wrote above regarding Stake...

[Pmalek]

While I was checking the TOS for FortuneJack, I discovered that they don't have the usual restricted countries posted in their TOS. Instead, they have what they call: "Prohibited Territories per provider". (https://fortunejack.com/faq/prohibited-territories)

On that list, they state which countries are restricted from playing games from which game provider. Lets take USA as an example. They are banned on almost all providers. But they are not banned by Quickspin.

Would that mean that you can use FotuneJack and play ONLY Quickspin games as a US player?

Their TOS also states this:

10.2. You are not allowed to use the Gaming Service from any of the Prohibited Territories. Generally, we will block Your access to the particular Gaming Service from the Prohibited Territories, however, if it happens that Your access is not blocked and You are still able to use the Service from the Prohibited Territories, we reserve the right to void any wagers and winnings of You if we find out that the bet was made from any of the Prohibited Territory.

This seems to suggest that only particular games by certain providers aren't allowed. Meaning that US players are free to play the games that are not on the list. I am going to ask FortuneJack to clarify this to make sure I understood it properly.

10.3.  We do not provide our Services to the End Users located on certain territories, counties and jurisdictions, which require the respective local gaming license to be obtained for operating gaming platform and providing gaming and gambling services on such territory, unless we obtain the respective local license for the respective jurisdiction.

[Pmalek]

The second batch of casinos has been tested. The results are posted below.
Just like during phase 1, I will now contact each casino that failed to provide a proper IP block with the results.

Casino	Restricted Countries	Active IP Ban
_____________________________	_____________________________	_________________
11. BetChain.com 12. CryptoWild.com 13. Cloudbet.com 14. FortuneJack.com 15. Casineos.com 16. Betnomi.com 17. Bitvest.io 18. 777coin.com 19. Bustadice.com 20. Bitcasino.io	UK, France, Netherlands USA, UK, France USA, UK More information here France, UK, Switzerland Turkey, France, USA No Info Available No Info Available France, Netherlands, USA USA, UK, Netherlands	UK - YES France - YES Netherlands - YES USA - NO UK - YES France - YES USA - YES UK - YES - France - NO UK - NO Switzerland - NO Turkey - NO France - NO USA - YES - - France - NO Netherlands - NO USA - NO USA - YES UK - YES Netherlands - YES

[robelneo]

Although gambling sites have IP blocks for some restricted countries, it doesn't mean that a gambler can not access that site because as long as a gambler can use VPN, especially a premium VPN, he can visit on that site without a problem. Even if gambling is prohibited in his country, he can still visit that site using a VPN. So I think that will not be a problem. With VPN, we can open the restricted website, and we can get inside without anyone knows.

Joining and betting using a VPN is not going to be an issue if you are just going to play, but if you are going to win a jackpot this is where you are going to encounter an issue, you have to answer why you proceed to register and play when you already know that they are banning your country and because of that you will have problems on how to withdraw, I have seen so many of this creating a complaint when they are the one who broke the rule in the first place.

[Raflesia]

Although gambling sites have IP blocks for some restricted countries, it doesn't mean that a gambler can not access that site because as long as a gambler can use VPN, especially a premium VPN, he can visit on that site without a problem. Even if gambling is prohibited in his country, he can still visit that site using a VPN. So I think that will not be a problem. With VPN, we can open the restricted website, and we can get inside without anyone knows.

Joining and betting using a VPN is not going to be an issue if you are just going to play, but if you are going to win a jackpot this is where you are going to encounter an issue, you have to answer why you proceed to register and play when you already know that they are banning your country and because of that you will have problems on how to withdraw, I have seen so many of this creating a complaint when they are the one who broke the rule in the first place.

I think if winning the Jackpot is rare then all they need is to mean what is at stake, and if we use a VPN of course it's not a problem even I often use it like because it's forbidden in my country from that just use it if there's no problem. VPNs still have strong security if you can trust them.

[Pmalek]

I have seen so many of this creating a complaint when they are the one who broke the rule in the first place.

Players consciously break the rules by using VPNs, that is true. However, some players use VPNs to protect their privacy. They aren't located in a restricted location, but they don't want to gamble using their real IPs. This is understandable. In that case, they have to be careful not to use a VPN from a location that is not allowed.

Some casinos should be blamed for not caring or doing more from their side as well. As you can see, many casinos have proper IP blocks for players. So it is possible to implement, if you want to. But certain platforms don't. It would be interesting to find out why. Is it just a coincidence, or don't they want to implement such blocks on purpose?

I think it is an important topic, and I am trying to engage them in a conversation.