Sweepstakes casinos are one of the hot trends in online casino gaming today. They’ve been around for at least a decade, but their popularity has been growing a lot in the last year. Sweepstakes casinos are also known as social casinos because they tend to have a community element built into the platform.
The biggest difference between sweepstakes casinos and regular online casinos is that sweepstakes casinos don’t pay out real money prizes. Instead, players can earn tokens that allow them to enter sweepstakes drawings. This certainly adds to the entertainment because some of the sweepstakes prizes are big ticket items.
There are typically two types of tokens used at sweepstakes casinos. The first are free coins that you receive when you sign up and through promotions, and these can be used to play the games but aren’t eligible for sweepstakes entries. The others are coins that you purchase. These are also used to play games but can be traded in for sweepstakes entries or other prizes.
With their growing popularity, there are now more sweepstakes casinos to choose from than ever before. When confronted with too many choices, many of us just pick whichever pops up first on Google or has the coolest website. This isn’t always the best method, so in this article, we’ll give you our top tips for narrowing down your options and choosing the right sweepstakes casino for you.
Games library
When you’re choosing a sweepstakes casino, the games library that they offer is obviously an important factor in your decision making process. All sweepstakes casinos will offer a variety of sweepstakes casino games, but some will specialize in one type of game over another. Slot machine games are the most popular and have the most variety, but table games can be harder to find. Since sweepstakes casino generally offer fewer games than their regular online casino counterparts, looking over their game library before you make an account is even more important.
Another thing to think about is that many sweepstakes casinos have their own licensed games that you can only play on their site. If you aren’t interested in those games or love a specific kind of game, this can make a major difference in how good a sweepstakes casino is for you.
For example, if you love baccarat, you should consider making an account with BetRivers or Stake since they both offer multiple versions of the classic card game. Global Poker is a top sweepstakes casino, but they don’t offer baccarat currently, so you might want to wait until they do to make an account with them.
Payment options
Digital payment options have become the norm for most of our everyday expenses; however, not everyone feels completely comfortable using every digital payment method. Being able to choose from a range of payment methods is very important. The right sweepstakes casino for you is the one that offers the payment methods that you prefer using.
The most widely used payment methods for sweepstakes casinos are the same as elsewhere on the internet. Credit/debit cards are still the most widely used, through either physical cards or digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay. Payment apps are also widely used, such as PayPal and Skrill.
For the tech savvy, some sweepstakes casinos have also started to accept cryptocurrencies. If you are already involved in the world of cryptocurrencies, using it as a payment method for a sweepstakes casino is a smart choice. The security and transparency that cryptocurrencies and blockchain offer are hard to beat.
Security and safety
Just because you aren’t playing for real money prizes doesn’t mean that your personal information isn’t required at a sweepstakes casino. Since you can purchase coins to play with, your payment information is still being entered onto the website. This means that you’re going to want to choose a sweepstakes casino that takes security seriously.
When you’re choosing a sweepstakes casino, evaluate the security software they’re using. This information will usually be available somewhere on the website, but you can always contact the site for additional confirmation. You will want a sweepstakes casino that uses 128-bit SSL encryption. This kind of encryption keeps your personal data and information incredibly secure, so you don’t have to worry about anything other than the games you’re playing.
Vibe
Finally, you’re going to want to choose a sweepstakes casino that you enjoy playing at. This comes down to personal preference. Some players love a sweepstakes casino that makes you feel like you’re enjoying a night as a high roller in Las Vegas, all neon lights and glitz and glam. Others love a fun mascot and engaging animations, and some players just want a simple site that lets them play their games without a lot of nonsense getting in the way.
No single sweepstakes casino is going to be able to appeal to every player and what seems intuitive to one user might be confusing for another. The right sweepstakes casino for you is going to be the one that has the perfect vibe for you and your style of play.