What's fueling the craze for Sweepstakes Casinos?
Sweepstakes casinos, also known as sweeps cash or social casinos, are becoming hugely popular across the US and in parts of Canada. And it’s clear why these sites are so popular – operating off of a sweepstakes model, sweepstakes casinos are able to provide a lawful way for players to enjoy casino-style games online in almost all states across America.
With a host of new sites joining the more established brands such as Wow Vegas, Chumba and Pulsz, we thought it was time to research and review all sweepstakes casino sites and find the most lucrative welcome bonuses available.
After many days of coin-hunting and rigorous testing, we’ve been able to put together this one-stop resource covering all things sweepstakes casinos and providing you a definite list of the Top Sweepstakes Casinos for US Players.
1.5 Million Wow Coins + 30 Free Sweepstake Coins
100,000 Gold Coins + 200 Fortune Coins
125,000 Tournament Coins & 100 Free Promo Entries
Quick Pick: Our Top-Rated Sweepstakes Casinos for Nov 2023
- 🥇 Wow Vegas – 1.5 million WOW Coins + 30 free Sweepstakes Coins
- 🥈 Fortune Coins – 200,000 Gold Coins + 200 Fortune Coins
- 🥉 Funrize Casino – 250,000 Tournament Coins + 100 Promo Entries
In-Depth Comparison: Best Sweepstakes Casinos 2023
In order to provide you with a comprehensive review of all the available sweepstakes casino offerings, the team came up with a 6 point checklist, which helped us narrow down the key aspects that matter when playing at a sweeps casino and provide a fair and balanced view of the market:
- Safety, Security & Trust: Is the sweepstake casino legit and can we recommend it as a trustworthy site to our readers?
- Games & Software: We look at what sort of games are available, as well as the range of integrations the site has with leading software providers to ensure you’re able to play all your favorite games!
- Bonuses & Promotions: What sort of bonuses and incentives are available to maximize our coins balances. We look at no purchase bonuses, as well as daily login and gameplay promos so you don’t miss an opportunity to get free coins!
- Purchases, Redemptions & Banking: Does the site offer redemptions and if so, how efficiently are these processed. What payment providers are integrated to support purchase of gameplay packages.
- Apps & Mobile: Does the site have a native mobile app? How does the site & games play on mobile devices?
- Token & Gameplay Mechanics: And finally we take a close look at the coins and tokens that power the gameplay at each site. Where can players get the most free coins, best redemption rates and build their biggest bankroll.
With these criteria in mind, we can take a closer look at our choice of Top Sweepstakes Casinos for November 2023:
Best Overall: Wow Vegas
Whilst it’s a relative newcomer to the sweepstakes casinos market, having only launched in 2022, Wow Vegas has quickly grown into one of our preferred sweepstakes sites! Not only does the site offer more than 700+ Vegas-style games and a growing number of software integrations, the team also knows to how keep the community engaged and excited, with routine promo’s across their social channels on Instagram and Tik Tok.
The other reason we like Wow Vegas the most, is the no purchase needed signup bonus of 5000 Wow Coins & 1 Sweepstakes Coin. This means new players can get involved straight away without having to commit any funds at all!
And finally, should you be lucky enough to win and grow your balance of Sweepstakes Coins, Wow Casino does allow redemptions so you can cash in your winnings for real cash.
Try Wow Vegas Now with 5000 Wow Coins & 1 SC.
Best Bonus:
Best for Crypto:
Getting Started with Sweepstake Casinos
How does it work?
The gaming experience offered by sweepstake casinos is a bit different from the conventional online casino, and can be tricky for new players to grasp initially.
The key concept to understand is that each sweeps casino uses their own in-game coins instead of real cash, which are used to play games. Since they don’t use real money, sweepstake casino sites avoid being classed as gambling and can therefore operate in almost any state ( a few exceptions exist, which we list further down in our guide).
But even though sweepstake casinos don’t allow for real money deposits, doesn’t mean that players can’t win real cash in return! Most of the sweepstake casinos we feature on our lists, will allow redemptions, which is the terminology used to refer to a player taking their virtual currency balance and converting it into real money.
Not all Coins are created equal
The next important concept to understand, is that not all virtual currency is the same. Most sites operate two distinct coins – one that is used purely for game play (and can be purchased in bulk packages if you run out of balance), and one that can’t be purchased, but instead has to be earned through gameplay milestones, community engagement, daily login quests and similar. These are the coins that players can ultimately redeem into cash.
Understanding the terminology
There are a host of words which may be unfamiliar at first, which seem to be the norm and widely used by sweepstakes casinos. Below you can find a short list of some of the most commonly used terms and what they mean:
Social Casino vs Sweepstake Casino: Social Casinos feature a similar virtual currency – mostly Gold Coins – but in general do not offer redemptions and as such players can’t win real money prizes or cash. The model used by Sweepstake Casinos does allow players to win real cash, via redemption.
Gold Coins/Sweeps Coins/Sweepstake Coins etc.: The different virtual currency tokens used for gameplay on site and for redemptions. As discussed above, sites generally use 2 coins – one for gameplay, and one for potential redemptions.
Redemptions: The process of exchanging redeemable coins into real money. Most sites will offer a ratio that governs the conversion from virtual coin into real world money.
Purchases: Buying a bundle of game play tokens. Whilst these can be earned via daily interaction on the site, and in the case of Sweepstake Casinos via their Alternative Mode of Entry, you may have played through your balance faster than the daily credits. In this case, you can purchase additional packages which will allow you to top up your playable balance.
Benefits & Downsides of Sweepstakes Casinos
Whilst it’s easy to get caught up in the hype surrounding sweepstake casinos and the excitement that the gaming experience offers, it’s worth taking a quick look at the pro’s and con’s of Sweepstakes Casinos in general.
Pro’s of Sweepstake Casinos
- legal in almost all US states
- it’s FREE! Playing at Sweepstake Casinos uses virtual coins, not real cash.
- ability to win real money
- host of exciting casino-style games on offer
- generous welcome bonus, incentives and promos
In our book, that’s quite a convincing list to go ahead and give a top rated sweepstake casino a try. But if you’re not convinced, let’s quickly discuss some potential cons of playing at a sweepstake casino.
Con’s of Sweepstake Casinos
- Geared towards US and Canadian players mostly
- Limited game variety
- Reaching redemption thresholds can be challenging
- Certain states restrict prize redemption either partially or in full
- Full KYC required
So there you have a it! Even considering the con’s, we still feel that sweepstake casinos provide an exciting alternative to players across the US to play legal and safe casino-style games online – and considering most of the sites listed on this page offer no purchase sign up bonuses, there’s really nothing to loose.
Are Sweepstakes Casinos legal in the US?
Due to the gameplay mechanic and use of virtual currencies, Sweepstakes and Social casinos are not considered online gambling by the US government – this is because no real cash is used in the wagering on site. Thus, you are not risking your money, which is a key determinant of whether something is classed as gambling or not.
This distinction makes Sweepstakes Casinos legal in most stats across the US. Notable exceptions include Michigan, Washington, Idaho and Nevada and the province of Quebec.
Since regulation of real money online casinos has been slow, with only a handful of US states providing legal online casinos, sweepstake casinos provide a welcome legal and safe alternative.
Whilst sweepstakes casinos are not classed as gambling and thus don’t require certain licenses, this does not mean they are not subject to regulations. All the sites listed in this review are legal and operate under the standards required by US law.
