Geolocation: Player Location Check in the US

⭐ What is Player Location Check: Geolocation in Legal Online Gambling

Hello wannabe gambler, where are you (located)? There is a player location check requirement, and your location matters.

In online gambling parlance, geolocation refers to user location when playing casino games or betting on sports. To comply with regulatory standards, the mobile casino will determine your location via Wi-Fi signal triangulation and IP address. If you fail to confirm these, you will not be allowed to play or bet. Geolocation check is a continuous background activity happening on the device during the span of gaming.

Geolocation in gambling checks is about jurisdictional compliance in the US. Legal online casinos and sportsbooks have to use location technology-based verification to ensure that you are physically present in the legal gambling jurisdiction before you can wager money online on the games.

If you are not physically present in the state where the casino is licensed, you cannot play games on that site. If you move out of the state in the middle of gaming, as identified with constant geochecks, all your games will be terminated or folded.

Many casino account features, including deposits and withdrawals, are still available for gamblers even if they are not present in the state jurisdiction. The location requirement is valid for actual gaming activity. Also, VPN services or remote desktop software cannot be used during geolocation checks. One can always travel to a state of interest to meet the player location check requirement.

Network Connection for Player Location Check

You must be connected to the Internet (Windows PC, Mac, mobile) or have cellular service on your mobile phone device.

Wireless network connection is not mandatory, but you must have WiFi enabled on the device.

For actual gameplay from a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet, you must have Location Services (GPS) turned on.

⭐ Real Money Casinos and Geolocation

Real-money casinos and sportsbooks are licensed statewide in the US. A legal CT online casino site has to ensure that you are physically located within the Connecticut state borders. You can be a US resident, but you must be present in New Jersey while wagering on casino games for money. The same is true for the states that allow legal online gambling within their state boundaries.

Sweepstake casino sites do not use geolocation tech to determine players but do not allow players from certain restricted states such as Michigan, Idaho, and Washington. Since sports betting and mobile casino gaming are not legal in every state, the location question is prominent in gambling regulation.

Casinos are required to verify your account through a KYC process. You will also be asked for social security numbers and identity documents in order to check if you are old enough to gamble .

⭐ Geolocation Troubleshooting

If you are near the state boundary, the IP address assigned by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may be associated with a neighboring/nearby state. This will cause verification failure. Most players have a dynamic IP that should be updated within seconds. If required, try unplugging your modem or router for a few seconds to reset the IP address.

You must contact your ISP if the company is routing your location to another location, causing you to fail location checks.

Do not use Virtual Private Network (VPN), Virtual Network Client (VNC), or Remote Desktop software (RDP) during gaming.

There may not be enough Wi-Fi signals if you are located near an ocean.

⭐Player Location Check Plugin Explained

The GeoComply Player Location Check plugin is required for devices that are not using the official mobile casino app or betting app or do not have a built-in GPS/Bluetooth/Wi-Fi location service on their machine.

The plugin is usually automatically downloaded to your device when required. Plugin restart may be required for some troubleshooting. The GeoComply plugin is browser-specific; users only need to install it once.

You can uninstall the player location check plugin from the control panel settings in your PC or restart it by ending its run in the task setting if needed. You need to find these controls on a Mac computer in the ‘system settings’ option. Check out this BetMGM help page video explaining how to install the plugin.

About GeoComply

GeoComply, founded in 2011, provides location check services to the gaming industry and others. GeoComply’s plugin is trusted by all gambling industry leaders, including but not limited to FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars, BetMGM, Bet365, Betsson, 888 Holdings, Bally’s, IGT, Churchill Downs, Golden Nugget, PokerStars, and Rush Street. The company has possibly performed every location check in the US-regulated gambling market.

GeoComply’s technology is critical for the online sports betting industry. Its platform uses over 800 data points to accurately confirm that players are in a state where sports betting is legal before placing a bet.

GeoComply also releases analyses based on player location, such as this NFL story based on data from 28 US states:

GeoComply, a global leader in advanced anti-fraud and geolocation compliance technologies, has announced a 22.3 percent increase in geolocation checks throughout Super Bowl weekend, surpassing last year’s figures.

⭐ Geofencing Reporting and Analytics Data

Gambling authorities such as the Michigan Gambling Control Board require that the geofencing System provide a real-time dashboard and data feed about player location check, which provides the following data, among other things:

• Period of wagering
• Username
• Operator and/or platform provider details
• City, state, and country details.
• The IP address of the device
• Device type and operating system
• Locations of geolocation transactions
• Report device sharing and account sharing

Any location check app, such as the FanDuel location check plugin or DraftKings location check plugin, fulfills the above-mentioned functions in betting and casino gaming.

Last updated: 03/07/2025