Sweepstakes casinos have been growing in popularity in recent years, with more and more US players joining these sites in search of a safe and, most importantly, legal place where they can enjoy their favorite casino games and win real money prizes.
Many more, however, remain somewhat hesitant to play on social casinos, wondering if these platforms are really legal. It is no secret that, outside of several states, online casino gambling is not legal in the United States, so it is only natural to ask the question: why are sweepstakes casinos different?
The fact of the matter is that social casinos can legally offer games with real money prizes. There are a few US states that don’t allow this model, but outside of these states, sweepstakes online casinos can operate within the legal framework.
If you’d like to know more, whether for your own peace of mind or simply to satisfy your curiosity, this article offers a more detailed explanation of why sweepstakes casinos are legal in the United States.
Utilizing the Sweepstakes Model
In the United States, companies have used sweepstakes to reward their loyal customers or increase sales for decades. People could enroll in these by simply sending a postcard or similar to the company, and a few lucky winners were selected to receive prizes.
The most important part of this model is that no purchase is required, so everyone can get involved as long as they meet the conditions of a particular sweepstake.
Social online casinos like Funrize Social Casino and High 5 Casino have taken this model as their foundation and worked around it to create legal gaming platforms with real money prizes. The fundamental aspect of this model is there are no traditional deposits, i.e., you can’t place cash into your account and gamble with it.
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Instead, players are awarded special coins, which are essentially sweepstakes entries. These can’t be purchased directly but rather are given for free as a reward for different actions on the site.
One of these actions is purchasing social casino chips, or play money, which has no monetary value of its own and can only be used for fun play. So, for example, you purchase 200,000 worth of play chips and are awarded 20 Sweeps Coins.
These Sweeps Coins are given as a reward for your patronage and can be redeemed for real money prizes or you can use them to play various casino games on the site to try and increase the balance. When you’re done playing, you can go ahead and exchange some or all of your SCs for cash.
We could go deeper into various legal aspects of this model, but the most important thing to understand is that there are no direct deposits, which means that no laws are broken in the process.
Are Social Casinos Safe?
Even if these sites are legal, some players are still concerned about how legitimate they are. After all, lacking government oversight, who’s to say that their games are really fair and that they’re not rigging things in some fashion to take advantage of the players?
This is a valid question, and the answer is somewhat complicated. The truth is that these sweepstakes casinos are balancing the fine line, managing to stay on the right side of the law. This makes them very cautious of any potential complaints, which could give officials a reason to go after them.
So, you can trust sweepstakes casinos are fair because they really can’t afford not to be — stakes are simply too high.
Plus, the old argument that the house always wins still holds true, so they have no reason whatsoever to rig their games. These are all profitable businesses that can make money the correct way, offering various slots and table games with an inherent house edge.
Ready to Join the Action?
Hopefully, this article has answered some of your questions about the legality of social casinos in the US and why you don’t need to worry when playing on these sites.
If so, feel free to check our detailed guide to sweepstakes casinos and pick one of our recommended operators to get started. Generous bonuses and big wins are just a few clicks away.
