Two currencies, only one of which converts

A US sweepstakes casino cannot sell a chance to win money, so it sells play currency, usually Gold Coins, and gives away a second currency alongside it. That second currency, most often Sweeps Coins, is a prize entry. It cannot be bought outright and it is the only one that ever converts into cash. Every comparison on this site is built from the second currency, because the first cannot leave the site whatever the headline says.

This is what keeps the model lawful in most of the country. No purchase is required to enter or win. Buying coins buys play currency, and the free entries arrive with it as a promotional bonus, in the same way a code appears under a bottle cap. Every operator we compare runs a working free route, and every figure on this site came from those routes.

The free routes worth using

• Daily login bonus. The backbone of a free account. A small redeemable amount each day, frequently with a streak bonus.
• Postal and web entry. Written into most operator terms and rarely used, usually the largest single free allocation available.
• Social giveaways. Time limited posts on operator accounts, normally the fastest way to add a meaningful amount.
• Missions and tasks. Complete an objective and receive redeemable currency rather than more play currency.

The floor is the number nobody advertises

Every operator sets a minimum redeemable balance before it will process a withdrawal. Across the eighteen accounts we funded it ran from fifty to one hundred coins. This figure decides whether a welcome is a gift or a project, and it never appears in the advert. Two free coins against a seventy-five coin floor means nine days of daily logins before you can withdraw anything at all.

At the cashier

Redemption exchanges prize currency for cash to a bank, card or wallet. Identity verification is legally required and is far easier done at signup than with a balance waiting. Our recorded times ran from twenty-two to seventy hours. First withdrawals are usually slower than later ones because the payment rail is being established.