If you’ve been using DraftKings with a VPN and it’s not working, the gambling website/app has managed to block the IP address your VPN has given you.
This has happened because your VPN isn’t or can no longer stay ahead of DraftKings VPN blocking techniques. And all of the IP addresses it has, have been blocked by the app.
The good news is that there are several fixes you can try to resolve this issue and continue playing DraftKings with a VPN.
Below is a list of fixes. Try these in order and if one doesn’t work, move on to the next until you’ve fixed VPN not working with DraftKings.
See also:
- How to play DraftKings outside the US: The EASY way! (June 2023)
- Pokémon Go not working with VPN? Here’s how I FIXED that! (June 2023)
VPN not working with DraftKings: Fixes
Delete Cookies
DraftKings tries to prevent VPNs from connecting to its service because VPNs can allow users to play DraftKings in locations where it doesn’t have legal rights to be played.
One way DraftKings can recognise you’re using a VPN is via your Cookies.
Cookies are small files used to make your online experience more streamlined. They’re not malicious; in fact, they’re beneficial, the problem, though is some Cookies contain information disclosing your physical location.
If this information differs from the location you selected with your VPN, DraftKings can tell you’re using a VPN and block your connection.
To fix this, try deleting your Cookies.
Change to a different server
The most likely reason your VPN has stopped working with DraftKings is because the sports fantasy website has identified the IP address your VPN has given you and has blocked it.
Changing to a different server will give you a different IP address.
If DraftKings hasn’t blocked this one, you’ll be able to play with your VPN again.
Upgrade to a VPN that works well with DraftKings
If deleting your Cookies and changing the server doesn’t fix DraftKings not working with VPN, your VPN isn’t able to get around DraftKings VPN blocking techniques.
If a VPN can’t consistently beat DraftKings blocks, eventually, all of its IP addresses will no longer work with the app.
From here there are two things you can do. First, you wait for your VPN to fix the issue. The problem with this solution is it could take a long time, and there’s no guarantee that your VPN will fix it.
Second, you could upgrade to a VPN that works well with DraftKings. This is a faster and more reliable option. We recommend ExpressVPN ($6.67/month).
ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) works well with DraftKings because it constantly monitors its own IP addresses and if they get blocked by the app. Although unlikely, if an IP address provided by ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) gets blocked by DraftKings, ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) will close that IP address and open a new one. This will allow you to use DraftKings with a VPN reliably anywhere in the world.
Why does DraftKings block VPNs?
DraftKings blocks VPNs because VPNs allow users to play DraftKings in locations where the fantasy app doesn’t have the rights to be available.
DraftKings is only available in certain states and countries. Lets use Hawaii as an example. Hawaiian law deems daily fantasy sports to be illegal. This is the same for the other states like Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
If DraftKings made itself available in these states, it would be breaking the law and would face extremely severe punishments. Obviously, it doesn’t want this to happen.
Because VPNs allow users to play DraftKings in those states, DraftKings blocks VPNs to ensure it doesn’t get fined.
How does DraftKings block VPNs?
The way DraftKings blocks VPNs is all to do with the IP addresses the VPN provides.
DraftKings constantly monitors for an abnormal amount of connections coming from the same IP address. It does this because this is a sure sign the IP address is a VPN-provided IP.
This can be hard for lesser/free VPNs to get around because they have a massive amount of customers and can’t provide an individual IP address for each user.
When this happens, customers using that VPN are forced to share IP addresses. This can result in hundreds or even thousands of people connecting to DraftKings via the same IP address.
When DraftKings sees this, it knows it’s a VPN and blocks the connection.
Does DraftKings still work with a VPN?
Yes, the fantasy sports app still works with a VPN. All you need is a VPN that can get around the blocks highlighted above.
The best VPNs for this are ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) and Private Internet Access ($2.03/month). The reason these VPNs are so good with DraftKings is because they have measures in place to get around DraftKings VPN blocks.
When DraftKings blocks an IP address provided by ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) and Private Internet Access ($2.03/month), these VPNs will close that IP address and open a new unblocked one.
This sounds like it’s easy to do, and any VPN could do it. However, this measure requires a massive amount of resources and infrastructure to allow the VPNs to monitor blocked IP addressses constantly. Lesser VPNs, especially free ones don’t have these sorts of resources.
To use DraftKings with a VPN reliably, you need ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month).
The best VPNs for DraftKings
1. ExpressVPN 🥇
Why You Should Use ExpressVPN? It’s the fastest and MOST reliable VPN of 2022
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
Special Offer for you!
Get 3 extra months free when you sign up for a 12-month ExpressVPN plan. That’s 15 months in total for the price of 12.
Number of servers: 3,000+ | Speed: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 160 in 94 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $6.66/month for 15 months
- $9.99/month for 6 months
- $12.95/month for 1 month
ExpressVPN ($6.66/month) is still the best VPN. And importantly, it ALWAYS has servers that are open with major streaming sites such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, etc.
ExpressVPN is usually very good at playing Cat and Mouse with online streaming sites. Meaning, whenever one of its servers is blacklisted it creates a new one – giving its users a constant stream of servers that aren’t blocked. Needless to say, this is a valuable attribute if you’re looking for a VPN to unblock streaming sites.
Its app is easy-to-use and free to download on pretty much any device you can think of. Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, FireStick, Android TV, Roku, PS4, Xbox, Linux, even Apple TV (with a workaround). It’s got it all covered.
The app is another main reason this VPN is so good at unblocking TV streaming sites (that claim they block VPNs) is that its software takes a pragmatic approach to user management. While other VPNs tempt customers by promising them access to hundreds/thousands of servers in multiple countries, ExpressVPN does things differently.
With ExpressVPN you only have a handful of server locations to choose from. Once you select your location the app takes care of the rest. Assigning you to the fastest available server that’s not oversubscribed. This simple technique is so important, as it keeps ExpressVPN’s servers operating at lightning-fast speeds and prevents its IPs from getting blacklisted for “abnormal” usage in the first place.
Check out our full ExpressVPN review.
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2. Private Internet Access 🥈
The BEST low-cost VPN for streaming!
Pros
- ✅ Fast and reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Only 48 server locations
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 25,000+ | Speed: >75% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 70 in 74 countries | Devices supported: 10 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.03/month for 3 years
- $7.50/month for 6 months
- $11.99/month for 1 month
Private Internet Access is one of the leading no-log VPN services with over 1-million paying customers.
This VPN is one of the best in the industry at beating streaming sites’ VPN bans. It provides reliable connections with US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+ Amazon Prime Video, etc. It also allows 10 simultaneous devices to be connected to its servers at the same time, so you can share the account with your close friends.
If – for whatever reason – you’re not happy with Private Internet Access, there’s a 24/7 live chat support available to assist you with your problem. PIA also offers the industry-standard 30-day money-back guarantee.
From my tests (from New Zealand) I was able to get download speeds of 70 Mbps while connected to a UK server using the Private Internet Access VPN (my non-VPN speed is 100 Mbps).
Special Offer – Save 83%
(30-day money-back guarantee)
3. NordVPN 🥉
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ No logs
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 6-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ No refunds for purchases from iTunes/App store
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 5,000+ | Speeds: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 62 countries | Devices supported: 6 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $3.49/month for 2 years
- $6.99/month for 1 year
- $11.95/month for 1 month
NordVPN is the most widely-used VPN in the world. And it’s easy to see why. It’s a polished app that delivers fast connections (more on this later) to a massive network of VPN servers.
It’s the most reliable at unblocking popular streaming services too – US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. This is because NordVPN hired a full-time technical team (that’s responsible for monitoring its servers’ connections with popular TV streaming services) and has been aggressively investing in its network of IP addresses in key locations.
Another interesting thing to note is that NordVPN is an industry leader in its development of Nordlynx technology. Nordlynx is built using the WireGuard, a new VPN tunneling protocol designed to outperform current standards (OpenVPN and IPSec). The benefits, according to NordVPN, are dramatically faster transfer speeds while connected to a VPN. My tests – New Zealand to London – confirm that Nordlynx is currently the fastest VPN on the market. However, the difference isn’t dramatic, a few Mbps is all.
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4. Ivacy
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ Dedicated streaming servers
- ✅ 5-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
Cons
- ❌ Only 5 devices
- ❌ Sometimes runs slow
- ❌ Occasionally block by streaming sites for several days
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for Ivacy and enjoy a 7-day trial with no strings attached
Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $1.16/month for 5 years
- $3.50/month for 1 year
- $9.99/month for 1 month
If you’re looking for an excellent VPN, with an even better price tag, Ivacy ($1.16/month) is a great option.
This VPN has all the features you need to stream BBC iPlayer, in HD, from any country in the world. I’ve been testing the app recently on Mac, PC, Android, iOS and FireStick and the results have been impressive – unlocking BBC iPlayer, US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. with ease.
The Ivacy app is a little different in regards to its UX (user experience). Instead of just selecting a UK server, you need to select the specific BBC iPlayer server. Don’t worry, this isn’t a bad thing – by connecting to a dedicated BBC iPlayer server, it simply means that you’re connecting to an IP address that Ivacy knows works with BBC iPlayer.
For an extra $1.99/month (£1.74) you can add-on a dedicated IP. This will buy you sole access to an IP address in a country of your choice, meaning you won’t have to share your IP (and speeds) with any other use. I don’t recommend this though, using the regular Ivacy servers is enough 95 per cent of the time.
Special Offer – 7-day FREE trial!
(30-day money-back guarantee)
5. CyberGhost
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ 1-day free trial
- ✅ Reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 7-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
- ❌ Average speed scores
SPECIAL OFFER – 1-DAY FREE TRIAL
Take advantage of CyberGhost’s 1-day FREE TRIAL!
Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.75/month for 3 years
- $3.69/month for 2 years
- $5.99/month for 1 year
- $12.99/month for 1 month
CyberGhost is one of the more established VPNs on the market. It has a well-established, and well-tested global network of servers that perform well.
From my tests over the past several months, CyberGhost has no trouble at unblocking major streaming services – US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max etc. This VPN performed well at maintaining download speeds, well above 65 per cent of my regular (non VPN) ISP speed.
That said, there’s nothing really unique about the service. Which forces you to look at its price-point. And there’s nothing special here. Its short-term $12.99/month price tag puts is well above the industry average of $10.10/month. Similarly, its long-term $2.75/month for 3 years deal isn’t much of a “deal” either.
Oddly, CyberGhost’s most unique feature is its a 1-day, no obligations, free trial. This is an appealing offer to customers who are new to VPNs. However, it’s important to remember that most reputable VPNs will offer customers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so try not to be too seduced by the offer.
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(30-day money-back guarantee)
