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This guide is here for anyone who has asked, “What are sweepstakes casinos?” Here you will see how these gaming sites let you play casino-style games for free and redeem Sweepstakes Coins for prizes too.
Sweepstakes casinos are more popular than ever, and much of this is down to the fact that they are legally available across most of the US. This guide reveals which sweeps casinos are available in your state, and highlights what games and promo offers are available. All you need to make the most of the sweepstakes gaming revolution.
TL;DR
Sweepstakes casinos follow a unique model compared to traditional online casinos. Rather than wagering real money, players use virtual currency. This currency, often called “sweeps coins” or something similar, can be purchased or earned through various methods. While players can’t withdraw these coins directly, they can redeem them for real-world rewards, including cash.
Sweepstakes casinos are online gaming sites where you get to play casino-style games like slots, roulette, and blackjack. But how do sweepstakes casinos work differently from regular online casinos? Well, there is no actual real money gambling involved; you can play for free and you can even potentially redeem Sweepstakes Coins for real-world prizes too.
Now that you know the basics of what sweepstakes casinos are, it’s time to have a look at the main pros and cons of using these sites rather than regular real-money online casinos:
There is a fair amount of confusion about how sweepstakes casinos differ from traditional online casinos. So here the key things to understand:
You don’t gamble with your own money at sweepstakes casinos but instead play the games with virtual currencies called Gold Coins and Sweepstakes Coins.
Sweepstakes casinos are bound by law to let you enter their sweepstakes with no purchase necessary. This means that you should always be able to get some free Sweepstakes Coins that you can use to enter the sweepstakes.
You cannot directly win real money at sweepstakes casinos. Instead of this, you will be able to play the social casino games with your Sweepstakes Coins and if you win back enough, you might be able to redeem your Sweepstakes Coins for prizes like cash, gift cards and merchandise.
You cannot make deposits at sweepstakes casinos like you can at regular online casinos. The closest thing you get to this is to purchase a Gold Coins package to play for fun.
Most sweepstakes casinos are legally available in over 40 states and you only have to be at least 18 years old to play at most states. In contrast, regular online casinos are only legal in six states and you have to be at least 21 years old to use their sites. Find all legal US sweepstakes casinos in my dedicated guide for it.
Sweepstakes casinos are available in the vast majority of the US. This is because they don’t involve any real-money gambling and therefore don’t require the same level of licensing and regulation as standard online casinos.
While you can only play real-money online casino games in the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Delaware, and Connecticut, sweepstakes casinos are available almost everywhere in the US, from Florida to Hawaii and most states in between.
Despite this, it’s worth noting that each state has the power to decide which sweepstakes brands they allow to operate within their borders. States like Washington, Michigan, Idaho and Nevada are usually fairly resistant to letting any form of sweepstakes gambling, and it’s a good idea to check whether the site you want to play at is legally available in your state.
Additionally, certain states like Florida and New York tend to apply lower limits on the value of the prizes that you can redeem. Again, another good reason to check the terms and conditions page of the sweepstakes casino that you are playing at. Here’s a quick summary of the legality of sweepstakes casinos in the US:
Sweepstakes casinos won’t let you wager your own money on the games. Instead, you will be using the following two kinds of virtual currency:
These simply let you play the casino games in a standard mode. This means that you are playing for entertainment purposes only with no chance of being able to redeem any prizes. You can either purchase Gold Coins as a package or get them for free through a special offer.
These let you play the games in a promotional sweepstakes mode. If you manage to win back enough Sweepstakes Coins, you can then redeem them for real prizes. Sweepstakes Coins can only be given away for free.
It’s one thing to know what sweepstakes casinos are, but it’s quite something else to actually play at these sites. The good news is that the kinds of games featured at sweeps casinos will largely mirror what you find at regular online casinos and at casinos in the real-world. Here’s a quick look at the kinds of games that you could be playing:
Anyone who wants to know what sweepstakes casinos are will probably want to know what their chances of winning are. There’s something called a return to player percentage (RTP) that covers this issue.
Each casino-style game will have an RTP and it basically means what kinds of returns you should expect to get over time. So if you played 100 Gold Coins over time on a slot game with a RTP of 96%, you would expect to get a return of 96 Gold Coins. Remember that this is a theoretical average and it doesn’t mean that this is exactly what is going to happen.
The RTP of the games at sweepstakes casinos is largely the same as that of regular online casinos. This means that most sweepstakes slots have an RTP of between 95 and 97%, while table games like blackjack and roulette tend to hover around the 97% mark.
Anyone who knows what sweepstakes casinos are will understand that they can always play at these sites for free. Despite this, you should be given the option to purchase one of the Gold Coins packages.
Gold Coins are the form of virtual currency that let you play in the standard mode which is where you cannot redeem any prizes. However, certain Gold Coins packages may give you some free Sweepstakes Coins as a bonus.
Remember that you cannot make standard deposits at sweepstakes casinos, but you should be able to make one-off purchases of Gold Coins packages with one of the following payment types:
Yes, sweepstakes casinos have something called playthrough requirements which have to be fulfilled before you can redeem any prizes. These playthrough requirements refer to how many times you will have to ‘play through’ your Sweepstakes Coins before you put in a prize redemption request.
Such playthrough requirements can vary significantly according to the site that you are playing at. For example, Wow Vegas has 1x playthrough requirements while this figure goes up to 20x at Vegas Gems. Check out this guide to sweepstakes casinos playthrough requirements to see who gives you the simplest way to redeem your Sweepstakes Coins for prizes.
Yes, now that we’ve had sweepstakes casinos explained, you should understand that you can always get Sweepstakes Coins for free. After all, this is the form of virtual currency that lets you play in the sweepstakes mode where there has to be no purchase necessary to participate.
As such, you should be able to get your free Sweepstakes Coins via at least some of the following promotions:
Most people who are asking what sweepstakes casinos are will be pretty keen to see how they can get their hands on some of those redeemable prizes. So the key thing to remember here is that you can only redeem prizes if you play through the Sweepstakes Coins form of virtual currency the required number of times. As well as that, you should keep the following factors in mind:
This refers to the minimum amount of Sweepstakes Coins that you are allowed to redeem. For example, you might need to have won at least 100 Sweepstakes Coins to redeem a cash prize, but this amount might drop down to 50 Sweepstakes Coins for a gift card prize. Don’t forget that these thresholds might also vary according to whether you got these Sweepstakes Coins through a special offer, or whether you won them through gameplay.
Chances are that those Sweepstakes Coins will have some strict time limits. It’s often the case that your Sweepstakes Coins will expire if you have failed to use them within 60 days. Check out this guide to sweepstakes casinos redemption time limits to see who gives you the greatest amount of time to redeem your cash prizes.
Now that you know how sweepstakes casinos work, you’ll be ready to play. Here is a rough guide for what you need to do:
Just note that you will usually have to verify your account before you can do anything like redeem Sweepstakes Coins for prizes or purchase any Gold Coins packages. This can usually be done by submitting some kind of government-issued photo ID such as a passport or driver’s license.
It’s fair to say that there is much less risk involved when playing at sweepstakes casinos compared to their real money counterparts. Despite this, you’ll still need to be aware of the following factors in order to stay safe:
In order to clarify what sweepstakes casinos are, it’s probably best to take a look at a few examples of these gaming platforms. So here is a handy table that showcases the top 10 sweepstakes casinos along with details about where they are available, what payment options they have, and what their welcome offers are. Plus, you’ll get to see what games are available – perfect for seeing which platforms are likely to have the highest RTP casino slot machines to get you a better chance of claiming your next win:
| Operator | Types of Games | Number of Games | Payment Options | Legal States | Bonus Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stake.us | Slots, Live Dealer, Table Games, Poker, Scratch Cards, Stake Originals | 700+ | Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Tron, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Tether, Credit Card (limited to 50,000 customers) | All states except for Idaho, Vermont, New York, Nevada, Washington, Kentucky, and Michigan. | $55 Stake Cash + 260K Gold Coins + 5% Rakeback |
| Sweeptastic | Slots | 900+ | Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Diners Club, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Tether, USD Coin, Skrill, Monero, NEO, Stellar, Tron, Cardano, Dash | All states except for Idaho, Nevada, Washington, Kentucky, and Michigan. | 70,000 Lucky Coins + 44 Sweeps Coins |
| McLuck | Slots, Live Dealer, Slingo | 1,200+ | Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Bank Transfer | All states except for Idaho, Nevada, Washington, Kentucky, and Michigan. | 7,500 Gold Coins + 2.5 Sweepstakes Coins |
| Wow Vegas | Slots | 1,200+ | Visa, MasterCard, Skrill, Apple Pay, Diners Club, Discover, Trustly, American Express, Bank Transfer | All states except for Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, and Washington. | 1.75M WOW Coins + 35 Free Sweepstakes Coins |
| Sportzino | Slots, Social Betting | 589 | Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Trustly, Skrill, Bank Transfer | All states except for Idaho, Nevada, Washington, Kentucky, and Michigan. | 1,550,000 Gold Coins + 45 Sweepstakes Coins |
| Vegas Gems | Slots | 400+ | Visa, MasterCard, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin | All states except for Idaho, Nevada, Washington, Kentucky, and Michigan. | 1,000 Gems + 50% Extra gems on your first Shards purchase |
| Hello Millions | Slots, Slingo | 2,400+ | Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay, Google Pay | All states except for Idaho, Montana, Michigan, Nevada, Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, and Washington. | 65,000 Gold Coins and 27.5 Sweepstakes Coins |
| Zula Casino | Slots | 700+ | Visa, MasterCard, Skrill | All states except for Idaho, Nevada, Washington, Georgia, Kentucky, and Michigan. | 100,000 Gold Coins + 10 Free Sweepstakes Coins |
| Fortune Coins | Slots | 550+ | Visa, MasterCard, Skrill, Trustly, Discover | All states except for Idaho, Nevada, Washington, Kentucky, and Michigan. | 650,000 Gold Coins + 1,400 Fortune Coins |
| High 5 Casino | Slots, Live Dealer, Slingo | 1,900+ | Visa, EcoPayz, Interac, MuchBetter, Neosurf, Paysafecard, AstroPay, Euteller, Skrill, Neteller | All states except for Idaho, Nevada, Washington, Kentucky, and Michigan. | 5 Sweeps Coins + 250 Game Coins + 600 Diamonds |
Now that we’ve had the question of, “What are sweepstakes casinos?” clarified with the examples in the table above, it’s time to take a closer look at some of the featured brands. Here are some mini-reviews for starters:
Signing up to Stake.us for the first time and could get you a welcome offer that gives you 55 Stake Cash, 260,000 Gold Coins and 5% rakeback. The Stake Cash can be potentially redeemed for prizes like cryptocurrencies, gift cards and merchandise.
Stake.us contains a varied game portfolio. It features over 700 slots from leading developers like Pragmatic Play, and you’ll also find lots of table games, scratchcards and there’s even a live sweeps casino. There are also those Stake Originals like Crash, Plinko, and Mines that offer you a whole new way to play.
Wow Vegas features over 1,200 slot games that come from some massive developers such as Betsoft and Pragmatic Play. You’ll get a welcome offer to get you started as you get 1,750,000 Wow Coins to play for fun, as well as 35 Sweepstakes Coins to potentially redeem for cash prizes and branded merchandise.
Wow Vegas also features a wide range of deals for existing customers including referral bonuses, daily coin rewards and a VIP star system. Furthermore, with 24/7 customer support, you should feel well taken care of here.
This is a relatively new sweeps casino that has made a big impact thanks to its collection of nearly 1,300 slot games, and you’ll also find a well stocked live sweeps casino here. It’s also worth downloading the McLuck app to your iOS or Android device as this will give you a convenient way to play.
McLuck isn’t shy about putting on some deals with 7,500 Gold Coins and 2.5 Sweepstakes Coins for new customers, and existing customers can get lots of McJackpots and a well-structured rewards program. With the ability to potentially redeem cash prizes and gift cards, this brand has everything that you should be looking for in a sweeps casino.
One of the biggest reasons to play here is the fact that it contains lots of exclusive High 5 slots that you aren’t going to find anywhere else. Beyond these, you’ll find nearly 2,000 slots from major developers like Pragmatic Play and a small but perfectly formed live sweeps casino.
High 5 Casino has a welcome offer to start you off as you’ll get 250 Game Coins to play for fun, five Sweeps Coins to redeem for cash prizes and gift cards, as well as 600 Diamonds that can be used to trigger the Boost on Demand feature. With one of the best sweeps casino apps on the market, this brand is worthy of a closer look.
This brand doesn’t just let you purchase credit with Bitcoin, but it’s also got an impressive range of crypto games like CoinFlip, Towers and Crash.
Vegas Gems also gets the basics of sweepstakes gaming right, as it’s got over 500 slots from major gaming studios like Pragmatic Play and Softswiss. You’ll also get a first purchase bonus for signing up – this bonus means that you get 50% extra Gems on your first purchase of Shards.
Just so you know, Gems are used to potentially redeem prizes, whereas Shards are just used to play for fun. Stay updated on the surge in new sweepstakes casinos like Vegas Gems making waves in 2025.
Now that you know what sweepstakes casinos are, you’ll be ready to start playing at one of the gaming platforms. Be sure to check out some of the reviews on this site to see which sweeps casinos are legally available in your state, as well as who has the best fit in terms of games and promo offers.
Remember that many more sweepstakes casinos are being launched each and every month and this guide will be updated accordingly. So be sure to check back here to see who is spearheading the sweepstakes gaming revolution.
Sweepstakes casinos let you play casino-style games online with virtual currency rather than your own money. You can always play for free at these sites, and if you play with the free Sweeps Coins form of virtual currency, you might be able to redeem real world prizes.
No, you cannot directly win real money on sweepstakes casinos. However, you will be given the opportunity to redeem real money prizes if you play through the Sweepstakes Coins form of virtual currency the required number of times.
Right here in this guide. This is the place where you see 10 of the best sweepstakes casinos, and it’ll tackle the thorny question, “What are sweepstakes casinos?” too.
It depends where you are playing from, but sweepstakes casinos are generally available in most states. The states in which you might have problems with playing at online sweeps casinos are usually Washington, Nevada, Idaho and Michigan, but read this guide to get further information about the biggest sweepstakes brands.
No, because you don’t actually wager real money on the casino-style games. Instead of this, you will be playing with two different forms of virtual currency that have no cash value outside of the actual sweepstakes casino site.
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