How to Access Online Casinos if They Are Blocked

Gambling Restrictions in Various Countries

Let's examine the current state of gambling in various countries worldwide. In all countries of the Muslim world, online casinos are forbidden - their God will not allow anything to be done about it. Even the beloved country of Turkey banned gambling in 2012. Egypt, after the revolutionary events of recent years, has also become predominantly Muslim, and now there is not much left to play. Further, the United States and China, though not Muslim countries, but also do not favor online players. Yes, there are Las Vegas and Macau, but we are talking about an online casino. In China, for example, the authorities not only block online casinos but also plan to introduce special programs that will block any sites that are somehow related to the industry of online gambling. There is no possibility of playing online in such tourist meccas as Singapore and Thailand.

A fascinating example is Israel. Until recently, it was impossible to play in online casinos in Israel. Officially, only sports betting and lottery were allowed. But savvy Israelis in a coffin saw all these bans and still play online. Their police protested against such malicious neglect, which violated the laws. - And forced providers to keep track of players in an online casino. But the Israelites were not born yesterday and filed in court against the police! And, as it does not seem surprising or impossible, the court supported the ordinary citizens of Israel. Police actions were considered illegal as they violate constitutional rights, and now the Israelis do not leave online casinos without violating the laws of their state.

So imagine: you're on vacation at any resort, and access to online casino sites is blocked by local ISPs. You enter the website of your favorite casino, rubbing your hands in anticipation and thinking, "Ok, let's play," but instead of the usual site, you suddenly see the error message, a blocking message, or even a blank page. What do you do in this situation? We do not need it yet classic saying: "Normal characters are always in the detour"! We'll start by passing the restrictions.

But first, a small educational program - in fact, for 90% of Internet users, things like vpn, I2P, proxy, and other ways to bypass the ban are a dark forest. Many of them are unaware of what it is, let alone how to use it.

What is an IP?

Let's start with the fact that, like every car, every computer on the network has its unique number - an IP address. The same IP address is used at each site, including your favorite online casino - this is the address of the server where the site is hosted. It is not very easy to remember, so they come up with domain names to make it easier for fellow users. A record of a site address is on the DNS servers. And after we enter the site name in the browser, for example, williamhill.com, the computer accesses the DNS server provider and finds the domain associated with this IP address, then it goes to the casino server. So that we can facilitate the work of the computer and access the site directly by typing the IP address of the site into the browser's address bar, rather than the domain name.

But how do you know this IP- address, you ask? It's easy! For example, let's take the well-known casino William Hill and determine its IP address. Press Start, then click Run, and in the window that opens, write "cmd".

Click OK, and we have opened this window:

Near the blinking cursor write : ping williamhill.com and press Enter. You will see something like this:

Here it is, IP- address casino of williamhill.com - 95.131.186.32, now we enter it in the address bar of our browser. Voila - we got to williamhill.com:

IP addresses are clear now, but we need to know two more things: port and protocol.

Port is a number a client program uses to specify the server of the computer it wants to connect. You just have to remember:

• FTP- server - port 21
• SMTP- server to send mail - port 25
• POP- server to receive mail - port 110
• ICQ- server - port 5190

So to enter williamhill.com, we write in the browser: 95.131.186.32:80, to get on the FTP server (if there is any we write : 95.131.186.32:21, but not in the browser, but in a special FTP program. And when you write a letter to williamhill.com, the e-mail program uses ports 25 and 110.

From this, we can conclude that a web server can communicate only with a web browser, an FTP server can communicate only with an FTP client, and a mail server has to deal with mailers; in other words, it will not work. A set of rules - who, with whom and how can communicate - is called a protocol. Different programs use different protocols.

So, you know the basics, and now we will describe how to bypass the bans on casinos from different countries, ranging from simple to complex ones. In general, the scheme of a computer with an online casino site looks like this:

Here, we clearly see that there may be two types of site blocking: blocking by DNS and IP. Blocking by DNS - the simplest, it is easier to bypass.

It looks like this: when your computer is accessing the DNS server and asks it for the IP address of the online casino, the answer is nothing, and you can see on the screen a message that the site is blocked, or just a blank page. Bypassing such blocking is easier: just use public DNS services and write the address of the DNS server in the connection settings.

Here is a list of public servers that you can use:

• 208.67.222.222 / 208.67.220.220 OpenDNS
• 209.244.0.3 / 209.244.0.4 Level3
• 184.169.143.224 / 184.169.161.155 Security
• 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4 Google
• 8.26.56.26 / 8.20.247.20 Comodo Secure DNS
• 67.138.54.120 / 207.225.209.77 ScrubIT
• 199.5.157.131 / 208.71.35.137 Public-Root
• 156.154.70.1 / 156.154.71.1 DNS Advantage
• 208.76.50.50 / 208.76.51.51 SmartViper
• 198.153.192.1 / 198.153.194.1 Norton DNS\
• 74.207.247.4 / 64.0.55.201 OpenNIC

In addition to using alternative open DNS servers, you can more directly instruct the computer that the site williamhill.com has an IP address of 95.131.186.32, so it does not have to use the DNS server. This is located in the hosts file, which can be found on your computer at WINDOWS/system32/drivers/etc/hosts. Open this file in Notepad, and it has the IP address of your computer - 127.0.0.1 localhost. Enter 95.131.186.32 williamhill.com - and everything is ready, the ban on the DNS is bypassed:

However, these options will work only if they lock DNS, without blocking IP addresses. However, it does not happen often; usually, providers block DNS and IP immediately. Nevertheless, it's worth it , since it is straightforward. And to bypass blocking by IP address, you need more effort. Blocking by IP looks like this:

There are more ways to bypass it too, but they all have the same principle: If your computer can not connect with the IP-address - you should use the intermediate unlocked server you can access to the requested site from. These intermediate servers are called proxy servers.

What Is a Proxy?

Let's see what a proxy is and how it works. Anonymous proxies are used to hide your real IP address, and most programs work with them when using the Internet, including browsers such as Firefox, IE, Opera, and Chrome, as well as mailers, ICQ, FTP managers, download managers like Reget, Download Master, Flashget, and Net Transport, among many others. The benefit of their use is twofold: first, you can anonymously access blocked sites, and secondly, you can avoid various network attacks on your computer.

There are several types of proxy, depending on the protocol they use: HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS4, SOCKS5, and others. HTTP proxy is the most common on the Internet, but it works only with HTTP. And they are not always anonymous, because sometimes the IP address of your computer is inserted into the headers of their requests.

However, socks (i.e., proxy SOCKS4, SOCKS5) are beneficial because they work with the transport layer protocols - UDP/IP and TCP/IP - and therefore work with all types of servers, including SOCKS and others. Moreover, they are entirely anonymous because, at the protocol level, UDP/IP and TCP/IP are physically unable to transmit additional information, as it would violate the protocol's operation.

How to Bypass Restrictions

So, we learn about a proxy. Now, let's proceed to the following table, which outlines the methods for bypassing blocking by IP address and evaluates the various characteristics of these approaches.

Let's start from the beginning.

1. VPS - Virtual Private Server.

This is one of the safest and most effective ways of bypassing your own VPS. It's your own proxy server you bought and pay for. The table offers a straightforward setup - if you pay the money, you don't have to deal with all the nuances of the setup; instead, simply ask for technical support to configure the VPS for your specific goals. You can install a second operating system in a secure environment and then install the casino client, allowing you to play on a VPS server via Remote Desktop.

If you know programming, the self-installation VPS will take no more than 10 minutes, and you can enjoy free VPS. Many VPS services offer a free month of testing, and you can use it for a long time to "jump" from one VPS to another. Here's a link to the forum thread with a list of free VPSs: http://freevps.us/thread-1645.html.

You should pay attention to the following: do not buy (or choose a free) VPS in countries that prohibit online casino gaming, such as the U.S. or Russia. Choose a VPS in a safe state - the Czech Republic, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, ...

Why in the columns Anonymity, Hidden Internet, and difficulty are specified as 0? - This could be argued, but two facts completely negate your anonymity:

• 1. Your home ISP will see that you are going for a VPS.
• 2. When buying a VPS, you must specify your data.

Here, of course, there may be options, but, as we know, we are the law-abiding citizens, and the law of our country does not forbid us to play in foreign online casinos; we just enter our favorite casino site in the country where we come to relax. Therefore, anonymity is not a significant concern for us, and in this article on Casinoz, we won't address issues of anonymity and bypassing methods.

2. The proxy.

At this point, there is a whole group of methods, let's look at them , starting with the simplest - anonymizer.

2.1. Anonymizer

Anonymizer is a proxy server in a user-friendly web shell: no need to install additional software, dig in your browser settings, or do anything else. Everything is already set in anonymizer, you only need to type the address of the site you want to enter and click "Go". But the pros of anonymizer end, and the disadvantages begin.

The first is slow speed. Because the anonymiser must first download the page to its server and handle all references so that it, too, is anonymised. It takes time ... and has advertising that twists almost all proxies - because that's how they live. Proxies also cannot alter under a variety of modern technologies that utilize websites, such as Flash, ActiveX, and JavaScript. So many websites won't look and work correctly when accessed through a proxy. Another drawback is that all your data will pass through an anonymous server that belongs to no one, even without encryption! So you are risking your password in an online casino.

2.2. Old way to work with a proxy.

Old and very mind-wrecking: you need to enter the address of the proxy server in your browser settings manually. In all browsers it's different, for example, in Firefox,  it is as follows :

In the Settings, you choose "Advanced" , then "Network" tab, click on Customize, and get there. But before that, you need to find a free proxy. You can do it using the search engine, or you can use the specialized sites.

Unfortunately, the proxies you find are often slow or do not work, and if they work, they quickly die.

Of course, this process can be automated to some extent - several specialized programs perform specific functions. For instance, Proxy Hunter searches for free proxies, ProxyChecker checks proxies for anonymity, or entire harvesters handle everything: SurfNow Professional or Anonymity 4 Proxy. The problem is that all these programs are shareware and eventually you have to pay. Therefore, we will not consider them in this article.

2.3. Browser plug-ins.

Such plug-ins are full proxies, but more comfortable and functional. These plug-ins on the fly make your real IP address anonymous and do some more things: substitute the identifier of your browser and User-Agent string, allow you to disable cookies, and enter the Tor network.

The two most popular plugins today are Hide my Ass! and AnonymoX. Plugin Hide my Ass! for the Firefox browser is here: https://addons.mozilla.org/ru/firefox/addon/hide-my-ass-proxy-extension/?src=userprofile, Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hide-my-ass-web-proxy/cmgnmcnlncejehjlnhaglpnoolgbflbd/related?hl=ru.

AnonymoX has a full support service located at: http://www.anonymox.net/en. When you enter the page, it determines your browser - Firefox or Chrome, and depending on that, it offers a suitable plugin for this browser (although currently anonymoX is only offered to users of Firefox, but hopefully soon the version for Chrome will re-appear).

Installing and configuring plugins for different browsers is very similar, so let's analyze in detail one combination - AnonymoX plugin for Firefox.

Download it if Firefox asks for permission to install, and click Allow. Then you will see a window asking you:

Click Ok after installation when you are asked to restart Firefox. After restarting next to the address bar, you will see an icon in the form of X:

If you click on it, the AnonymoX menu appears:

In the settings, you can select the country and a specific proxy from the list. After activation, the traffic is routed through the selected proxy servers, and previously blocked sites become accessible. You can choose to replace the proxy "on the fly" in Premium. Regular users can utilize the first two methods, but for those who want more, a premium option is available for USD 5.89 per month. With a subscription, you'll enjoy ad-free browsing, unlimited bandwidth, a wider selection of proxy servers, and additional benefits. The difference between the paid and free versions is in the following screenshot:

In Opera, it's even easier - Opera Turbo technology can be used as a substitute for the proxy server. When you turn on Opera Turbo, requests from your computer go through the server of Opera Software, which becomes a proxy for us. IP-address is changed:

To enable Opera Turbo, go to settings - left-click on the Opera icon in the upper left corner , select Settings - Quick Setup, and tick the checkbox of Enable Opera Turbo, or just press F12.

In a similar way, you can use other services as a proxy server - for example, Google or the Microsoft Corporation. The trick is very simple: use their translators. When translating the pages from one language to another, Google generates a link in the address ba,r type www.google.com/translate?sl=en&tl=ru&u=site. Thus,if we substitute the name of the blocked site, it automatically opens, already translated, in the browser. Then, press Original and see the blocked site, which is what we needed. Microsoft translator works similarly: translate a blocked site in another language: http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?from=&to=ru&a=williamhill.com - and get it with the IP address of Microsoft.

3. VPN - Virtual Private Network.

A VPN is a more robust solution for bypassing bans than proxies. A VPN connection is often referred to as a VPN tunnel, as it can be visually represented as a tunnel connecting your PC to a dedicated server. Your computer communicates with the first virtual server and then connects to the Internet, allowing you to obtain the IP address of this server. A special algorithm encrypts all your traffic and passes through the locks of your provider, like a knife through butter. The provider does not see what information passes through the tunnel, because all kinds of traffic look for it in the same way. Intercepting your traffic or blocking access to any site is very difficult.

On the web, there are plenty of sites where you can buy access to the VPN tunnel. The cost is about $5 per month - a small amount for anonymous and secure access to any site. When you create a VPN connection, you simply create a new network connection, which is no different from a standard LAN connection. Your browser does not notice the difference and will use the VPN tunnel to browse the Internet without any additional configuration.

Schematically, it appears that when you enter the casino's address into your browser, a special GRE packet is sent from your computer in encrypted form to the VPN server, which then requests that the casino site be downloaded on behalf of the VPN server. After receiving a response from the casino site, the VPN server puts it in a GRE packet and sends it to your computer. The transmitted data is encrypted constantly.

Here are some popular VPN services:

• Hotspot Shield, https://hotspotshield.com
• CyberGhost, http://cyberghostvpn.com
• UltraVPN, http://www.ultravpn.fr
• VpnSteel, http://www.vpnsteel.com
• Air VPN, https://airvpn.org
• FreeVPN, http://www.thefreevpn.com
• Vpnod, http://www.vpnod.com
• ItsHidden, http://itshidden.com

Here, you can find a list of VPN providers and their technical characteristics, as well as their monthly payment, at http://en.cship.org/wiki/VPN.

A significant drawback of VPN anonymity is that if your traffic lacks additional encryption, for example, in the case of HTTPS Web traffic, the VPN operator can intercept your information and use it for their own purposes. Therefore, you can only hope that the operator will not abuse the VPN access to your information. However, there is a way out - free programs are available that allow you to establish a private network VPN, such as OpenVPN.

And if you have a friend who lives in a country loyal to online gambling, you can create a private VPN tunnel. You need to be well-grounded technically, though, and we will not go into details in this article. However, after installing the private VPN, you will achieve a perfect bypass of any bans, ensuring reliability and freedom.

4. TOR - The Onion Router

It is a great tool that ensures your anonymity and bypasses any locks. TOR operates on the principle of "onion routing." Tor users on your computer run the onion proxy, which connects to other servers and forms a virtual Tor network that remains anonymous. When connecting to three servers, they create a temporary chain, and these chains are constantly changing. All servers in this chain are chosen by chance and "know" only the previous and next link in the chain. It is impossible to trace the complete route, and even identify the sender.

Before leaving your computer, a data packet is sequentially encrypted with three keys: to the third node, then the second and the first. When another node receives a packet, it decrypts the uppermost layer of the cipher by analogy with cleaning onions and determines where to send the packet next. All of the following nodes operate the same way.

TOR is open source software, so, it is checked and tested every day by hundreds of users worldwide. It also provides built-in protection against Trojans, viruses and backdoors.

Installing Tor is simple. You can download the installation package from the official sitehttps://www.torproject.org/download/download. Now there is also TOR Bundle - a single software package , where you do not need to configure anything. To get started, it is enough to download, install and run it. You can download it here : https://www.torproject.org/dist/torbrowser/tor-browser-2.2.39-5_en-US.exe. There is also a plug-in for Firefox, called Torbutton, you can download it here : addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/2275. In one click all your traffic will be safely sent through a chain of intermediate nodes.

TOR also has two drawbacks, because using it for our purposes, playing in an online casino, is not good enough.

1. All your data passes through a chain of Tor nodes as encrypted, but the destination server, where the data is located on the external Internet, has access to unencrypted data. That is, after all, there is a chance, very small, that someone at the output node will get all your passwords from the casino. If you can risk or not - decide for yourself.
2. Another drawback is, of course, the speed. Each of the servers is included in the chain and causes a delay time of response along with the channel width. As a result, we have a modem connection speed that you have probably forgotten. For modern casinos, it's small.
3. I2P - Invisible Internet Project. This is the last way to bypass the blocking. We will review it briefly, just for completeness. This method is also not suitable for our purposes because of slow operation - I2P speed depends on the number of users in the network, and there are not many of them.

I2P network was originally designed to work in the most challenging conditions - it was assumed that all intermediate nodes belong to attackers, regulatory authorities, packed with sniffers and other hacking gadgets. I2P is impossible to destroy, block or filter data from it. It has no central servers or DNS servers, and it does not depend on external DNS servers. A brief overview of the various protections employed in the I2P network can overwhelm an unprepared user.

Multilayered encryption and onion routing one-sided tunnels and passing encrypted packets of information in not one but several different tunnels, assigning a random number of random bytes to each packet, after the packet it is still encrypted on the bulbs, pass-through, tunnel, and transport layers with more than 9,000 algorithms! Each package your computer sends is broken into pieces, and only part of the package comes to the target computer.

All traffic passes through one-way encrypted tunnels that randomly change direction in 10 minutes, creating several of these tunnels, and the packages also have a random order.

In general, the security of I2P is significantly higher than that of the TOR network, and two orders of magnitude higher than that of the normal Internet. But setting up this network is very complex and an inexperienced user simply can not do it.

		Casino	Bonuses		Editors rating
		Riobet Casino ?	100% to 1000 $ x35	Play T&C applies, 18+	9.5
		Stake Casino ?	—	Play T&C applies, 18+	7.8
		SlotoCash Casino ?	—	Play T&C applies, 18+	7.7
		Grand Wild Casino ?	—	Play T&C applies, 18+	7.4
		JackpotCity casino ?	100% to 400 $ x50	Play T&C applies, 18+	7.4

Conclusion

In this article, we have reviewed all possible methods for bypassing blocked online casino sites by local Internet providers. Which of these methods is better? Decide for yourself, taking into account local conditions and personal preferences.

It is best to try them all, choose the best, and configure your laptop before the trip to the resort; otherwise, it could happen that you will not play your favorite casino game, but tinker with the settings of a particular network.