The two currency model

A US sweepstakes casino does not sell gambling. It sells a play currency, usually called Gold Coins, and it gives away a second currency alongside it. The play currency can be bought and used on games but can never be redeemed for anything. The second currency, most often called Sweeps Coins, cannot legally be sold, so it is given away through free routes, and it is the only currency that converts into money or prizes. Every figure on this site is measured in that second currency, because it is the only one that matters at the cashier.

This structure is why the model is lawful in most of the country. You are never required to pay to enter or win. A purchase buys play currency, and the free currency arrives with it as a promotional bonus, in the same way a soft drink competition puts a code under a cap. If an operator ever made redemption conditional on a purchase, the structure would collapse, which is why every site on our board runs a genuine no-purchase route.

The free routes you will actually use

• Daily login bonus. The workhorse. A small amount of redeemable currency every day, sometimes with a streak multiplier.
• Postal and web entry. Written into the terms of most operators, rarely used, and usually the largest single free allocation available.
• Social giveaways. Posted on the operator social accounts, time limited, and often the fastest way to add meaningful credit.
• Task and mission routes. Increasingly common. Complete an in-game objective, receive redeemable currency rather than play currency.

The redemption floor

Every operator sets a minimum redeemable balance before it will process a withdrawal. On the eighteen accounts we funded this ranged from fifty to one hundred coins. The floor is the single most underreported number in this market, because it converts a generous sounding welcome into a waiting period. A site that gives you two coins and holds a seventy-five coin floor has handed you the start of a nine day project, not a withdrawal.

What happens at the cashier

Redemption means exchanging the free currency for a prize, which for most operators means cash to a bank account, a card or a wallet. Identity verification is required by law, and it is better to complete it before you have a balance waiting. Once filed, the times we recorded ran from twenty-two to seventy hours. Weekend filings are usually slower, and a first withdrawal is often slower than subsequent ones because the payment rail is being set up.