Over the last five years, we have seen a popular type of iGaming platform emerge—sweepstakes casinos. This type of iGaming platform is incredibly popular in the U.S. and serves as a viable alternative to traditional online casinos due to the limitations of state licensing and availability of the latter.
But what exactly are sweepstakes casinos, like https://www.sweepstakescasino.net/reviews/ding-ding-ding/, and how do they compare to traditional online casinos? In the below guide, we’ll look at four key aspects of sweepstakes casinos, including licensing, payments, and game selection, and how these compare to traditional online casinos.
To be clear, both platforms offer superb entertainment, but how they do that and what you can do on each platform, differs, so read on to learn more.
Licensing
We only recommend playing on iGaming platforms that adhere to the licensing regulations relating to their type of platform. Licensing for sweepstakes casinos and traditional online casinos differs, and it’s important to understand how.
Sweepstakes Casinos
Sweepstakes casinos operate under U.S. sweepstakes laws. As a result, they do not need a gambling license to operate legally. However, they must comply with the sweepstakes laws. The main premise here is that the games on these platforms have to be free to play—the platform cannot force you to spend money to play the games and they must offer some type of free play option, which is where the Gold Coins come in.
Traditional Online Casinos
Traditional online casinos must have a valid gambling license to operate in the U.S. For example, online casinos in West Viriginia have a license from the West Virginia Lottery Commission. Without a license, they cannot legally operate. The licensing body typically audits an online casino to make sure they comply with state gambling regulations and that they uphold a certain level of quality and fairness.
Payment Systems
How you spend money at these online platforms is also important and this is the main difference between traditional online casinos and sweepstakes casinos. One emphasizes free-to-play fun, while the other emphasizes deposits and real-money gains.
Sweepstakes Casinos
Sweepstakes casinos use virtual currencies. There are usually two virtual currencies—Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins. Gold Coins have no monetary value and can be obtained for free from multiple sources, such as a welcome bonus, daily login bonus, and competitions. You use Gold Coins to play the games at sweepstakes casinos.
Sweeps Coins are the premium virtual currency. These cannot be bought outright but are given as bonuses, and you can usually obtain them via postal orders and social media giveaways. Sweeps Coins can be redeemed for cash prizes, typically at a rate of 1 SC to 1 USD. There is usually a minimum redemption amount, and you can redeem either gift cards or real money.
Both Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins can be used to play casino-style games at sweepstakes platforms. You can usually buy Gold Coin packages too—similar to microtransactions in gaming on mobile phones.
Traditional Online Casinos
To play at traditional online casinos, you have to deposit money. For example, you might use your MasterCard to deposit $10 at an online casino. You can then spend that $10 on various games. The payouts for games are also in USD, and you can win real money on these platforms.
Game Selection
From the outset, these two types of iGaming platforms have a similar game selection, and indeed, many of the games overlap, but a closer inspection shows that usually, traditional online casinos have a much greater game variety.
Sweepstakes Casinos
Sweepstakes casinos usually have a smaller game selection compared to traditional casinos. Where a traditional platform might have 1000+ games, some sweepstakes casinos have as little as 100 games. The game variety is similar, and you can usually play video slots, fishing games, scratchcards, keno, and jackpots. However, often, there are no live dealer games and no classic table games like blackjack.
Traditional Online Casinos
Traditional casinos usually have a huge selection of table games and live dealer games, which is where they outclass sweepstakes casinos. You can play blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps, and more. The video slot selection is also usually impressive, but often, you can find the same types of slots at both traditional and sweepstakes platforms.
Availability
The legality of these platforms is also an area of key difference, with sweepstakes casinos being available in most U.S. states but traditional online casinos only being available in a handful of states due to gambling laws and no federal oversight.
Sweepstakes Casinos
Sweepstakes platforms have far greater availability than traditional platforms. Usually, these platforms are legal to play at in ANY U.S. state, with a few exceptions. The exceptions are usually Washington, Nevada, Idaho, and Michigan. These four states have different sweepstakes laws, and the platforms shouldn’t accept customers from these states.
Traditional Online Casinos
Online casinos are incredibly limited compared to sweepstakes casinos due to the variance in U.S. state gambling laws. Currently, online casinos are only legal in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Yes, only six states offer legal online casino gambling!
We expect this to change in the future as it was a similar case with sports betting. Today, sports betting is legal in 30+ states and we expect online casinos to follow a similar trajectory in the next decade.
Both Types of Platforms Offer a Fun, Engaging Gaming Experience
We hope you now have a clearer understanding of these two types of iGaming platforms. As you can see, they share many similarities in terms of game selection. However, the legality of these platforms, state-wide availability, and payment systems differ greatly.
Despite this, the underlying point is that both sweepstakes casinos and traditional online casinos offer great entertainment value and allow you to have an engaging gaming experience from either your computer or smartphone. While traditional casinos do this with an emphasis on monetary gains, sweepstakes casinos emphasize the fun and could be better compared to mobile games.