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This guide is here to show you how you can legally play at sweepstakes casinos in California. Good news for all gaming fans in the Golden State.
Here you’ll get to see what sweepstakes casinos are and learn how they let you play slots and table games for free. We’ll also examine why sweeps casinos are legal in California whereas regular online casinos aren’t. All you need to get a legit and safe way to play casino games online anywhere from Sacramento to San Diego.
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Sweepstakes casinos are online gaming sites that look and feel just like regular online casinos. The key difference is that sweepstakes casinos don’t feature any real money gambling.
As such, sweepstakes casinos can legally operate in states like California where traditional real money gambling is outlawed. In order to legally operate in California, each sweepstakes casino must let you enter their sweepstakes free of charge and they can only host games that are based on chance.
So as long as you are over the age of 18 years and are based somewhere in the Golden State, there should be very little stopping you from playing at a sweepstakes casino.
The California Gambling Control Commission (CGCC) plays a crucial role in regulating sweepstakes casinos, ensuring their compliance with state laws and maintaining the integrity of their operations. As such, all legit sweeps casinos operating in California will have to abide by the following principles:
You won’t be able to gamble real money at sweepstakes casinos, but instead will be playing the casino games with virtual currencies. These are usually called Gold Coins and Sweepstakes Coins.
Legit sweeps casinos will have to let you enter their sweepstakes with no purchase necessary. Therefore sweepstakes casinos comply with these rules by giving you many ways to collect Sweeps Coins through various special offers.
You won’t be directly winning money at sweepstakes casinos. Instead, you will get the chance to redeem your Sweepstakes Coins winnings for various prizes like cash, gift cards and merchandise. Just note that these Sweepstakes Coins have playthrough requirements and that you will need to have the minimum amount in your verified account before you can put in a prize redemption request.
You won’t deposit money at sweepstakes casinos like you can at regular online casinos. Instead, all legal sweepstakes casinos will give you the option to purchase one of the Gold Coins packages. Just remember that Gold Coins can only be used to play for fun.
While the concept of sweepstakes casinos might take some getting used to, these sites are actually fairly easy to play at. Here is a quick walkthrough of what you need to do:
Just remember that you will be expected to verify your identity before you can do things like purchase Gold Coins packages or redeem your Sweepstakes Coins for prizes. This can usually be done just by submitting a selfie along with some government-issued photo ID.
Not only are sweepstakes casinos legal in California, but most of them are packed with games that are just as good as you’ll find at any real money casino. Here is just a taster of the games that you could be playing from the Golden State:
Sweepstakes casinos in California have to let you play for free, and this means that you should always be able to get free Sweepstakes Coins via at least some of the following deals:
These are deals that will typically give you free Sweepstakes Coins just for signing up to the sweepstakes casino for the first time.
Here you can usually get free Sweepstakes Coins just for logging into your sweepstakes casino account every 24 hours.
It’s common for sweeps casinos to host free coins giveaways on their Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) social media channels.
These aren’t promotions as such, but you should be able to get free Sweepstakes Coins by sending in a postal request to the sweepstakes casino in the way described on the brand’s sweeps rules page.
Here you just have to get a friend to sign up to the sweeps casino using your referral code and doing so could see you getting free Sweepstakes Coins in return.
These are long-running promotions that tend to give you free Sweepstakes Coins and other perks just for continuing to play at that sweepstakes casino.
While you can always play at sweepstakes casinos for free, these sites do let you make one-off payments to purchase their Gold Coins packages. Gold Coins can only be used to play for fun, but there is a chance that your purchase may give you some free Sweepstakes Coins as a bonus.
Sweepstakes casinos will usually let you purchase these Gold Coins packages in a variety of denominations via at least some of the following payment methods:
All sweepstakes casinos will let you redeem your Sweepstakes Coins for a variety of prizes such as cash, gift cards and merchandise. You will usually have to fulfil the following criteria before such prizes can be redeemed:
Not everyone has played at sweepstakes casinos before, and so here are some handy tips to get you started:
It’s best to get your verification out of the way early. Doing so means that you can do things like purchase Gold Coins and redeem Sweepstakes Coins for prizes without delay.
When you sign up to a sweepstakes casino, you will usually get the option to check a box saying that you accept promotional emails and SMS messages. Best to do this as it means that you can be first in line to pick up any exclusive offers.
Sweepstakes casinos love to reward loyalty, and by checking into your account every day you could pick up daily login bonuses, while rewards programs can give you lots of perks for consistent gameplay.
You can often pick up free credit by following your favorite sweeps casinos on social media, and free coins can also be gained by using refer-a-friend bonuses.
Each casino game will give you varying chances of winning. So do your research to see which of the slots and table games has the most generous return to player (RTP) percentage.
California maintains its prohibition on online casino gambling and sports betting statewide. Despite efforts to legalize online sports betting and align with other states that have embraced it, recent initiatives have fallen short. Currently, there is minimal momentum to revive these proposals for future ballots, leaving the state’s stance on digital wagering unchanged.
Despite California casinos’ popularity in brick-and-mortar form, California online casino sites are currently prohibited. So while California players can enjoy sweepstakes casinos that include Apple Pay as a trusted payment method., they cannot do so at regular online casino sites.
Gambling legislation in California has been on quite the rollercoaster ride over the years. Back in the early 20th century, most forms of gambling were flat-out illegal—except for horse racing, which managed to trot along just fine. But fast forward to 1984, and things took a sharp turn with the California Gambling Control Act. This law set the stage for card rooms and other gambling establishments to operate legally, finally giving Californians more than just the ponies to bet on.
Then came 1998, and with it, a game-changer: Proposition 5. This ballot measure opened the floodgates for tribal casinos on Indian lands, dramatically expanding the state’s gambling landscape.
But when the early 2000s rolled around, the push to bring online gambling into the mix hit some serious roadblocks. Tribal casinos, which had become heavyweights in the industry, weren’t too thrilled about the idea of online poker muscling in on their territory. Their strong opposition, combined with a web of regulatory conflicts, caused efforts to legalise online gambling to stall out before they could really get off the ground.
The 2018 Supreme Court decision to overturn PASPA (the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) breathed new life into the conversation, allowing states to legalise sports betting. California jumped into the fray, considering the possibility of online sports betting. But just like before, progress has been slowed by ongoing disputes and a seemingly endless parade of legislative hurdles.
Below you can check out a shortlist of the top six sweepstakes casinos in California today:
| 🖥️ Site | 🎁 Welcome bonus | ✅ Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Stake.us | $25 no deposit, 250k GC + 5% rakeback. JAXONSOCIAL | Exclusive promo codes |
| WOW Vegas | 1,750,000 WOW Coins and 35 Sweepstake Coins Claim here | Slot games |
| High 5 Casino | 40 Sweeps Coins, 200 Game Coins and 100 Diamonds Claim here | Mobile gaming |
| Fortune Coins | 650,000 Gold Coins & 1,400 Fortune Coins Claim here | Jackpot slots |
| Golden Hearts Games | 250,000 Gold Coins and 500 free Sweeps Coins Claim here | Charity donation-based gameplay |
| Sweeptastic | 21 SC FREE and 20K Lucky Coins Claim here | Game variety |
I’m sure you’ll want to know more, so I’ve provided you with a bit more detail about these new sweepstakes casinos below:
At Stake.us, you can get an exclusive welcome bonus when you register with the promo code: JAXON. This will get you a deal of 55 Stake Cash, 260,000 Gold Coins and 5% rakeback.
You can use this bonus to play 700+ casino-style games, including slots, table games, live dealers, and scratch cards. Overall, this is one of the most diverse sweepstakes casino selections outthere. However, the highlight for most people are definitely the provably fair “Stake Originals” games that put it ahead of even the very best USA sweepstakes casinos.
At WOW Vegas, you can get up to 1,750,000 WOW Coins and 35 Sweepstake Coins when you first sign up. Additionally, there are first purchase promotions, daily login deals, social media giveaways, referral deals and a VIP star system. You can use these offers to play over 1,200 top slots from Betsoft and Pragmatic Play.
This is a popular Vegas-style sweepstakes casino with an official mobile app. Additionally, High 5 Games, High 5 Casino’s parent company, developed many of the 1,900+ games. As a new player, you get 40 Sweeps Coins, 200 Game Coins and 100 Diamonds. These Diamonds can be used to unlock special features and bonus rounds in certain slot games.
At Fortune Coins, you can get a decent welcome offer of 650,000 Gold Coins and 1,400 Fortune Coins. To get the free welcome bonus in full, you will need to sign up and then complete several other tasks, such as signing up to SMS notifications and linking your Facebook account. There are over 140 games here and many of the games are unique to this site and it is one of the few sweepstakes casinos with progressive jackpot slots.
At Golden Hearts Games, you can get a welcome offer of 250,000 Gold Coins and 500 Sweeps Coins when you sign up. Plus it’s worth noting that 2% of everything you spend on the site gets donated to a charity of your choice. The casino-style game selection features over 200 titles and spans a number of genres. As well as slots and table games, there is bingo, lotteries and much more.
There are over 900 casino-style games at Sweeptastic, making it one of the biggest sweepstakes casino lobbies in the business. The games have been supplied by respected providers and, like at Stake.us, you can play provably fair games like Mines and Plinko. When you sign up, you can get 21 Sweepstakes Coins and 20,000 Lucky Coins. Additionally, you have the choice between two first purchase packs to get extra credit to play with.
The main thing to take away from this article is that sweepstakes casinos are legal if you are aged 18 or older in California. This means that you can sign up to these gaming sites and enjoy a legal, safe and fair way to play thousands of slots and table games for free from anywhere in the Golden State. So while regular online casinos are yet to be legalized in California, there should be little stopping you from enjoying some quality sweepstakes gaming.
Yes, sweepstakes contests are legal in California as long as they are free sweepstakes and deemed to be games of chance.
You cannot play with or win real money directly at any sweepstakes casino . However, if you play promotional games with SC on some sites, you can redeem real money prizes if you pass the minimum required account balance.
Most gamers will probably enjoy what they find at Stake.us. After all, you can sign up using this exclusive JAXON promo code and get a welcome offer of 55 Stake Cash, 260,000 Gold Coins and 5% rakeback.
In California, it is currently not legal to gamble on casino apps. The state’s laws only allow for gambling at licensed tribal and commercial casinos, as well as cardrooms.
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.
