Sweepstakes and social gaming has quickly become a significant force in the online entertainment industry, offering a unique and legally compliant alternative to traditional gambling. For many operators this provides a relatively easy and quick way to launch a site.
Understanding the intricacies of sweepstakes models can help both players and operators navigate this evolving landscape and take full advantage of its opportunities.
30-Second Summary
- Sweepstakes casinos offer similar games to traditional casinos, but allow operators to avoid the stringent real-money laws and licensing.
- Players purchase gold coins to play for free, and can earn sweepstakes coins that can be redeemed for cash and prizes.
- With a market estimated to have 85m players a day worldwide, it’s a new frontier in casino gaming.
- Providers and platforms are racing to support sweepstakes and social casinos with currencies solutions and gaming content.
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What are Sweepstakes Casinos?
Sweepstakes casinos mirror real-money casinos but operate under sweepstakes law, allowing them to offer games legally across many gambling-regulated jurisdictions, including the United States. They operate under a “freemium” model.
And What are Social Casinos?
Whilst sweepstakes and social casinos may be used interchangeably, it’s worth noting that social casinos are purely about fun-play, and do not offer players the chance to win prizes or cash.
Why the Big Deal?
Various studies have painted a picture of a huge genre of gaming, worth €7bn in 2021 and expected to grow to $12bn by 2031, with an estimated 85m daily players worldwide of which 60% are in the United States.
Understanding Sweepstakes Casinos
The operation is based on “no purchase necessary.” Players can participate in games and potentially win prizes without spending money, although they have the option to purchase gold coins if they wish. This is achieved through the use of virtual currencies, typically divided into two categories:
- Gold Coins (GC): Used for fun-play and have no monetary value. Players purchase gold coins to enjoy the social aspects of casino games, but these coins cannot be redeemed for cash or prizes.
- Sweepstakes Coins (SC): Unlike gold coins, sweepstakes coins have the potential to win rewards with value, including cash. Players cannot directly purchase SC; instead, they are obtained through bonuses, promotions, or social activities. Players can redeem them for prizes or cash on meeting certain criteria.
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This dual-currency system and absence of depositing to play for real money, is what sets sweepstakes casinos apart from traditional gambling platforms.
How Sweepstakes Casinos Work
- Sign-up: Players join and purchase virtual coins or tokens (gold coins) to play games. Some sweepstakes casinos also offer players gold coins (GC) for free upon sign-up.
- Bonuses: Sweepstakes coins (SC) are often gifted in welcome packages, with gold coin purchases, or as rewards for play, in leaderboard promotions and social sharing.
- Play: Users can play many of the same games as on a real-money casino. These games are adapted to cater for the two sets of coins.
- Compliance: In sweepstakes games, certain phrases are changed to distinguish them, such as “play” (replaces “bet”), “coins” (“balance”) and “spin” (“stake”).
- Redemption: Once a player has accumulated enough sweepstakes coins, they can redeem them for prizes, such as cash, gift cards, or merchandise, depending on the platform’s offerings, as long as they meet certain KYC criteria.
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The Popularity of Sweepstakes Casinos
The growing popularity of sweepstakes casinos is driven by several factors:
- Legal compliance: the model allows operators to offer real prizes while staying within the bounds of law, making them accessible in markets where traditional gambling is heavily regulated.
- Social engagement: Many sweepstakes casinos incorporate social elements, such as live chats and competitions, which enhance the player experience and build community.
- Accessibility: With no purchase necessary, sweepstakes casinos are accessible to a broader audience, including those who may be cautious about gambling but still enjoy the thrill.
- Sweeps-ready games: providers are moving fast to convert their games into sweepstakes-enabled games. Players can play their real-money favourites in a growing number of sweepstakes casinos.
- Technical readiness: Additionally, games providers, platforms and aggregators are developing support for sweepstakes and social coins and virtual currencies, to support the increasing demand.
Why Sweepstakes Casinos Matter for Operators
For operators, the sweepstakes model offers a way to enter markets that are otherwise closed to traditional gambling. The ability to attract a diverse player base with both fun-play and prize-winning games makes sweepstakes casinos a versatile and attractive option for iGaming companies.
Additionally, they are seen as a complement to real-money casinos, allowing the operator to serve multiple player preferences, as well as providing a means of growing player bases.
LuckyStreak’s Role in the Sweepstakes Landscape
LuckyStreak has responded to the demand of the sweepstakes market by providing operators and platforms with virtual currency support and sweepstakes-ready content.
LuckyStreak’s own live games are undergoing a transformation to move enable their studio-led proposition to serve the specific needs of the market. And through our content aggregator LuckyConnect, we can offer a growing selection of leading providers like Pragmatic Play, Tom Horn, Fugaso, BGaming and more (with more onboarding for the coming months).
LuckyStreak CTO and Co-founder Erez Cywier talked about the pivot into sweepstakes support: “The key steps included adding support for non-FIAT/ cryptocurrencies and being able to support any customised currency our customers use on their platforms. In doing so, LuckyStreak learned to rethink the way we viewed the players’ currencies to be somewhat more abstract.
Partnering for Success
Additionally, by partnering with specialist sweepstakes platforms like Sweepium, LuckyStreak has adapted its technology to support the unique requirements of sweepstakes and social gaming. This includes the ability to handle multiple virtual currencies and currency formats, and provide high-definition, immersive gaming experiences that rival traditional casinos.
“Sweepium provides an array of sweepstakes and social models, catering to diverse strategic brand launches” says Daniel Mitton, the company’s Chief Business Development Officer and Co-founder. “Sweepstakes and social gaming presents a distinctive gaming experience that can attract a novel player demographic for both B2B providers like LuckyStreak and operators. The ease of integration involved unveils numerous distinctive opportunities within our partnerships.”
Conclusion: A New Broom in Casino Gaming
The sweepstakes casino model represents a significant shift in the iGaming industry, offering a legal, innovative, and engaging alternative to traditional gambling.
With developments like LuckyStreak’s advanced technology this gaming format is poised to lead the way in this new era of gaming.
Particularly in the huge and competitive yet highly regulated and complex US market, it is proving to be an opportunity that many are grasping.
For more information on how LuckyStreak can help you leverage the sweepstakes model, please contact us:
- Email: hello@luckystreaklive.com
- Skype: https://join.skype.com/invite/dGmzZxfPSz7q
- Telegram: https://t.me/markotel70
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