Casino gaming has a long and eventful history in the US, from the early gaming tables of Louisiana and Mississippi to the modern world of online live casino sites.
Online casinos have been around a little longer than you might think. The first online sites appeared in the 1990s, and the increase in the popularity of poker in the 2000s led to new online poker gaming opportunities and to increasingly complex legal wrangling.
You might think that online casino gaming would have benefitted from the upsurge in sports betting across the US, following the 2018 Supreme Court decision on PASPA, but in fact, five years on from that historic decision, only a handful of US stats have legalized online casino gaming. So, it is not surprising that alternatives, including sweepstakes casinos, have been gaining ground.
The best US sweepstakes casinos are attracting wide support across the US, and there are many reasons why casino fans are turning to the sweepstakes model. In this article, we aim to reveal exactly why sweepstakes casinos are becoming so popular and what benefits they offer.
What are sweepstakes casinos?
The sweepstake casino is not a new concept. In fact, the business model that underlies the modern sweepstakes casino is based on the response of lottery operators to the anti-lottery legislation of the mid-20th century. They adopted the “no purchase required to enter” model, which has since been assumed by a variety of different business sectors to advertise new products.
In the online era, this business model has enabled the creation of a new sector of gaming known as social gaming, in which players are able to play on a range of games – many of them based on casino titles – without having to make any real-money payments.
Benefit one: national availability
As mentioned above, most states in the US, even those with legalized sports betting, do not allow online casino gaming. This is for several reasons, including political objections and legal concerns over the effect of the Wire Act of 1961. This law bans the transmission of gambling information across state lines, but how this affects the internet age remains unclear.
But sweepstakes casinos are not classified as gambling sites, since no real money is used to play the games, and they are exempt from the rules that apply to regular online casinos. Sweepstakes casinos can operate in any state of the US, so are available to the majority of US casino gamers who cannot yet access legal online casino gaming.
Benefit two: unique payment options
Sweepstakes casinos work on the principle of “no payment necessary to enter” and that means you can sign up to a sweepstakes site and enjoy the games and features without making a deposit.
Here’s where the sweepstakes casino differs from the regular casino. These sites use gaming currencies – gold coins and sweeps – rather than real money. Gold coins have no monetary value and are simply used for playing games on the site. Players can buy gold coins from the site to play their games. Sweeps, on the other hand, do have a monetary value and can be exchanged for real cash, but cannot be purchased on the site and are usually awarded via draws or promotions.
This gives the sweepstakes casino gamer far more flexibility than regular casino gamers, as it is possible to exchange sweeps for real money, then use this to buy gold coins to play the games.
Benefit three: variety of games
You might wonder whether sweepstakes casinos can offer real casino games. The answer is yes, although in some states that have rules about certain aspects of casino gaming, such as the use of a roulette wheel, the casino operator must come up with some inventive workarounds.
In general, however, you can find a wide selection of traditional casino games and slot titles. Many of these are developed exclusively for the sweepstakes casino operator, so you won’t be able to play them at regular casinos. There are also gaming genres, many of them variations on popular arcade games, that you would never see at an online casino. These include so-called “fish table games”, which are similar to the type of game that you might find at a fun fair.
Benefit four: bonuses and promotions
All online casino sites offer their customers bonuses and promotions, and sweepstakes casinos are no different, but what is different is the wide variety of bonus types that are available:
Welcome packages
A welcome package at a sweepstakes casino is nothing like the welcome bonuses available at regular casinos, and often consists of bundles of coins and sweeps awarded without a deposit.
Daily drops
Returning players often benefit from daily drop bonuses. These are fixed numbers of gold or sweeps coins that are paid out simply for logging into your account each day, again without needing to make a deposit or wager a certain amount.
Social media competitions
The social element of sweepstakes casinos is a big part of their appeal, and many of these sites link promotions to social media, offering various competitions through popular social media sites, with the prizes on offer including casino credits.
VIP rewards
Regular players at a sweepstakes casino can be eligible for elaborate VIP programs, which are often available through invitation only. They provide a host of bonuses for VIP players, which increase as the player climbs the levels of VIP status.
Miscellaneous bonuses
As there is no real money involved, sweepstakes casinos have more freedom than regular casinos when it comes to bonuses and can offer a wider range of bonuses, such as rewards for using a certain social media site for sign-up or for completing the player identity verification process.
Conclusion
Sweepstakes casinos are here to stay in the US and will continue to offer several benefits to US casino fans who don’t have the opportunity to play at legal online casino sites. While for some, nothing will ever replace a real-money online casino, for many US casino gamers, sweepstakes casinos offer a fun and lower-risk alternative that is available across the US.
