Whether you like it or not, your location is probably being tracked right now. Your mobile device, your laptop, and probably anything else you own that has a connection to the internet are culpable of sharing your geographic location.
In part, this is not a problem, but what happens when online casinos and other betting apps use this process?
What is Geolocation Software?
When you connect your device to WiFi or if you’re using data, there might not be a tangible connection, but to work, the hardware has to communicate with another piece of hardware that facilitates the internet to work. By and large, this is a data center.
While the processes here are complex, the essential information is that these buildings house the Internet. If all these buildings were burnt down, there’d be no internet.
These sites are usually dotted around each country in populated areas where the internet demand is higher. For example, the metropolitan areas of London, Manchester, and Leeds will have more resources than, say, the small town of Winchester. Therefore, it is typical for urban areas to have faster internet speeds than rural locations.
The buildings have a tangible set location. When your device connects to these, the data center will read your IP address as well as a few other metrics that read your location, and then the geolocation will be able to place you. This helps with specific apps and sites for a better online experience.
For example, when you open a weather website, the geolocation software will automatically load up the forecast for your area instead of making you type it out.
Or when you search for cinema showing times, the geolocation software will again kick in and give you the timetable for the cinemas closest to you instead of those hundreds of miles away.
If you were to try the betting app sites listed here, given that there are many contrasting views and licensing issues around the world, the geolocation software will operate in conjunction with any gambling app or website and work out whether you can or can’t play on them.
For example, one provider might not trade in Belgium but does in your home country, so you can’t use it while you’re on vacation in Brussels. Or if you’re transferring flights in Riyadh, don’t expect to place a bet on the Saudi Pro League as it is outlawed in the country.
Does it Ever Go Wrong?
This software isn’t without its issues. If you’re not in a good area for GPS or network coverage, it might place you a few miles out. Sometimes, based on your specific location, your signal might be more potent to another data center, so it will switch across.
Sometimes, this will cross borders. If you live near the Hudson River in New York, you might get the weather report for New Jersey; it’s probably not a big issue, as it’ll probably be very similar.
There are issues, however, when it comes to less trivial aspects. Betting companies spend lots of money regulating how their apps work and load to different audiences to maximize their customer base and ensure they don’t break laws.
In North America, two countries with very different stances on online gambling are the US and Canada. Some of the northernmost states in America will latch onto the Canadian data centers, allowing US citizens to access Canadian content while not being offensive by nature.
This means they could gamble online even if their state law opposes it. Or a person traveling around the dunes of Egypt could find they cannot gamble because their connection is incorrectly placing them over the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia.
Can I Use a VPN?
The short answer is yes. How effective it will be is another question in itself. VPNs can be used for many purposes, but one popular means is to hoodwink the geolocation to place you elsewhere.
Often used by people to access content found on other countries streaming platforms or holidaymakers who don’t want to miss an episode of their favorite TV show, this helps internet users circumvent geographic restrictions.
So, can it work with online casinos? Five to ten years ago, yes, these would often work, allowing users to access such sites when they were geographically placed in an area where they technically couldn’t play online gambling.
However, in 2024, online casinos and internet service providers ramped up their security efforts to ensure these tools don’t work as effectively.
