Sweepstakes casinos are online gaming sites that use virtual currencies instead of the normal cash or crypto-based deposits. While they often look identical to ‘normal’ casino sites, the way you enter, play, and redeem prizes is entirely different.
Sweepstakes casinos have become especially popular in the United States, where many platforms use two currencies: one for entertainment purposes, and another that sometimes can be redeemed for prizes.
If you’re comparing sweepstakes casinos with conventional sites, resources like AskGamblers NZ cover the traditional online casino market. Sweepstakes casinos work differently, and on this page, we’re going to walk you through exactly what they do – and how they work.
A sweepstakes casino is a type of gaming website that’s built around promotional or sweepstyles-style entries, so you don’t have to deposit real money to play (and in most cases, can’t).
While each sweepstakes casino works slightly differently most use two types of virtual currency:
The actual names used by operators vary, but the fundamentals tend to remain the same. While you can’t deposit real cash at sweepstakes casinos, you can buy Gold Coin packages – which are virtual credits allowing you to play the games.
Again, the exact rules vary slightly between sites, but they generally look something like this:
You begin by registering an account and confirming you meet the site’s age and location requirements. A lot of online sweepstakes casinos offer free Gold Coins or promotional Sweeps Coins when you register, too.
Gold Coins are also available through:
Sweeps Coins can sometimes be received alongside those purchases, but platforms may also provide free promotional methods of obtaining them. The exact method often depends on where the casino is based, as local laws often determine how things work in regards to purchases.
Sweepstakes casinos can offer many of the same types of games as ordinary online casinos, including:
When playing with Gold Coins, your winnings, however, usually get credited back to your account as Gold Coins – which means they can’t be redeemed. When you use eligible Sweeps Coins, any resulting winnings may become redeemable – once the site’s requirements have been met.
Having Sweeps Coins doesn’t necessarily mean they can instantly be exchanged for a prize, and operators might require things like:
You should always check the sweepstakes casino’s terms and conditions to find out exactly what the requirements are for you.
When you play at sweepstakes casinos, one of the terms you’ll see quite a lot is Alternative Method of Entry (AMOE) – and this is a system that allows users to enter a sweepstakes promotion without making any purchase. This is usually to fulfill a legal requirement, and it may include completing an online request, using a promotional code or, on some platforms, sending a postal request.
AMOE’s are usually very specific, so you need to ensure you follow the operator’s rules down to a tee. They’re generally offered because sweepstakes promotions need a genuine no-purchase method of entry, which is an important part of how operators separate themselves from conventional online casino gambling.
Sweepstakes casinos can be a little confusing to “figure out” at first – especially when comparing them against social and online casinos. Here’s a quick overview of the main differences between the three:
| Type | Currency | Redeemable Prizes? |
| Sweepstakes casino | Virtual promotional currencies | Sometimes |
| Social casino | Virtual coins | Usually no |
| Online casino | Real-money balance | Yes |
Now, a social casino is usually an entertainment-only platform, so while you can sometimes purchase virtual chips, those chips can’t normally be converted back to money or prizes.
Online casinos are the standard online gambling websites you may be used to, where you can deposit real money, play games, and win real money.
Sweepstakes casinos on the other hand are a kind of “mixture” of the two. You may be able to redeem a promotional currency for prizes – but it varies by site/location.
Potentially, although it’s a lot more accurate to describe the process as redeeming eligible Sweeps Coins for prizes, instead.
Gold Coins themselves don’t have a monetary value – and you also need to be aware of the site’s rules.
One sweepstakes casino, for example, might require you to earn at least 50 eligible Sweeps Coins before you can request a redemption, so even if you won 30 – you’d need to keep playing or earning promotional coins before you meet the minimum requirements.
This is where things become slightly more complicated, because some people claim that sweepstakes casinos are automatically legal in New Zealand because players use gold coins and sweeps coins rather than directly betting in New Zealand dollars.
That’s far too much of a simplistic explanation, however, and while New Zealand does allow certain sales promotions and prize competitions, these promotions must satisfy some specific legal requirements. Just because a sweepstakes casino offers a dual currency system or free entry method does not automatically mean it can operate in New Zealand.
The term “sweepstakes casino” itself comes largely from North American sites, and it’s not a specific category of casino governed by New Zealand law.
New Zealand’s online casino rules are also changing under the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026, which introduced a new licensing framework for online casino gambling.
That makes it even harder to give sweepstakes sites a blanket “legal” label simply because they use a dual-currency model. At the same time, New Zealand hasn’t (yet) introduced an actual ban on sweepstakes casinos as a category – so the legal position ultimately depends on how an individual platform operates.
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