Sweep-stake Online Casino Vs Regular Online Casino
What Is an Online Sweep-stakes Casino?
Sweep-stakes have been with us for over 50 years. In fact, in 1953, the Publishers Clearing House made them famous by selling the magazine’s subscription under a banner proclaiming that by subscribing you could also win $10, million. The game of Monopoly that came with a children’s menu from McDonald’s is also a form of sweep-stake in that it gave you chances to win prizes by buying food items. As you can imagine, it didn’t take online casinos very long to start offering their own sweepstakes.
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How Does Sweepstakes Gaming Work?
With sweep-stake casinos, you don’t bet real money to win more money. You receive coins or tokens that can then be used to collect sweepstake entries. Often, once you’ve registered as a new player and after completing the registration process, you’ll receive some of these coins. Then you can play all the usual casino jackpot games such as poker, baccarat, roulette, and blackjack. By playing these games, you get even more opportunities to win yet more of these sweep-stake coins. By the way, these coins have zero value, which is why they are not considered gambling.
But, as you can imagine, their coins or tokens can be exchanged for other types of credit. And it’s with these credits you can finally cash out or enter to obtain various prizes. Two very popular sweep-stake sites are Chumba Casino and LuckyLand Slots. They both provide players with “gold” coins with which they can add real monetary value. Once you run out of coins, you can always buy more. This is the business plan and how these gaming sites actually earn their way.
How to Play at a Sweep-stakes Casino
Once you find the best casino site to play, then you’ll need to be signing up. Then you’ll receive a number of coins as part of your sign-up no-deposit bonus. Now you’ll need to play some f those games to try and win even more coins. As we mentioned, you can always buy more coins if you want to take that route. Then you can convert the coins into cash and make the withdraw.űó
Here’s a Step-by-Step on How to Play Sweepstakes Casinos
You’ll also notice that because it’s not “real “gambling, they are able to maintain large social media accounts. On these platforms they are constantly running competitions and contestants can answer a simple question to win. The casino will then choose five winners and maybe they’ll get more tickets to a sweep-stake credit. If at any point you run short of coins, then there are an of banking options available for you to be able to top up. As it’s not real money, many casinos will offer bonuses depending on your initial order. So, for example, with many online casinos, if you order $50 to $100 for 100,000 coins, then there’s a good chance you’ll receive an extra 20,000 coins.
Are Sweep-stakes Casinos Legal?
The companies running these sweep-stake casinos are very clever in making sure they can bypass internet gambling laws, without breaking the actual law itself. At the same time, they are tweaking the system just enough so they’re also not offering traditional casino games. Legally you can’t play with cash on a sweep-stake website. So, as there’s a need, this need is filled using a convoluted system of betting and then winning coins or tokens. And it’s because these wins are not regarded as real money, then they don’t count under the official definition of gambling. Yes, of course, this is just a technicality, as we can see that these coins are in-fact worth a lot of real money to the winner. So, it’s like having your cake and eating it!
In the US, virtually all states recognize sweepstakes as legal. All except Washington state and Washington DC that is. In order to get passed the legal requirements, a sweep-stake casino needs the following; giving out free coins through no-deposit bonuses and no real money gambling allowed. This means that because both the Publishing Clearing House and McDonald’s are using this system, then you are technically gambling with both these entities.
Sweep-stakes Casinos vs. Regular Online Casinos
Of course, a standard internet casino is very similar to a sweepstake one. Both offer the possibility of getting a no-deposit bonus. But whatever you do on a standard casino website, it’ll probably require some real hard cash at some point. Unlike the sweepstakes casinos, you’re not just using fake money in the form of tokens or coins. It’s the aspect of playing with real cash is all that separates the sweep-stake and standard casinos. As such, you’ll find a lot more legal online sweepstakes than you will regular casinos.
Advantages of Sweep-stakes Casinos
Over the last decade or so, sweep-stake casinos have gained a large foothold within the US market place. There are a number of reasons for this which we’ve laid out below.
It’s Legal in the Most States
As we previously mentioned only two states don’t legally allow for this type of gaming, those being Washington State and Washington DC. Every other state is perfectly happy to have sweep-stake casinos in their midst. Even though the business model is kinda iffy, none the less, none of these entities are breaking the law.
No Deposit Bonus
Every sweep-stake casino offers a free no-deposit bonus when you sign-up as a new player. You might receive 100,000 coins after completing the sign-up process, with the possibility of having more coins than offered on a daily basis, a refer a friend bonus, and extra coins with various promotions. Then there is any number of social media prizes which are changing daily as well.
Fun Online Casino Games
Just like any regular casino, these sweep-stake casinos will also offer all your favorite casino games. The big and most noticeable difference is in the look of the games. Sweep-stake games tend to be a lot more colorful and animated, with a ton of playful graphics.
Less Potential Risk Involved
Well, seeing as you don’t need to pay anything to start with, then this is a no-brainer. But that these sites are betting on, is that you’ll fall to the temptation to purchase more coins. Having said that, these purchased coins do go a lot further in these casino games than with those found on a standard casino site.
Downsides of Sweepstakes Casinos
These sweep-stake casinos really do offer a great deal of bang for your buck. But, as with all things that appear free, the devil is in the detail.
A Convoluted Setup
With real money casinos, the process is relatively straight forwards. Essentially, you make your deposit, play the casino games, and then cash out any winnings. Bit with the sweepstakes casinos, life is not as simple. This is part and parcel of a system designed to out-fox the legal system.
There Are Fewer Games
On sweep-stake casinos you’ll find jackpot slots and table games. But the selection is pitiful when compared with a standard internet casino site. These latter businesses will have literally hundreds of slots and dozens of table games. There’s really no comparison.
It Still Requires Your Money
Though you can play at your online sweep-stake casino to win the jackpot online for gratis, the same can’t be said of your regular online casino. Though you can join both for free, the latter will expect to start seeing some of your cash within a few rounds or hands. Once you’ve finished playing all your coins from the sweep-stakes site, you can simply close the browser and move on. Of course, the owners of these sites are hoping that you’ll find a reason to stay and continue playing, thus necessitating the purchase of a new set of coins. So, yes, in some ways, if you’re playing longer term, then you’ll be spending money on both sites.
Conclusion: Online Sweep-stakes Casinos
Sweep-stake casinos and their standard brethren are very similar as far as playing goes. Probably the biggest difference is that sweepstakes sites use a two-coin system to eat the legal situation they might otherwise find themselves in. Essentially you get a starter pack of coins for free. Once there are spent, then the site is hoping you’ll be persuaded to buy more using your credit card or E-Wallet. Even though the law has forbidden it, these coins can be exchanged for real money when the time comes to cash out.
If you look across social media, and in particular, Facebook, you’ll find plenty of sweep-stake sites giving out free coins in order for you to take part in online sweepstakes and promotions. It’s these give-a-ways that are specifically designed to separate sweepstakes from regular sites, more especially in the eyes of the law.
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