A US sweepstakes casino cannot sell a chance to win money, so it sells play money instead, usually called Gold Coins, and gives away a second currency alongside it. The play money buys spins and nothing else. The second currency, most often Sweeps Coins, is a prize entry: it cannot be bought outright and it is the only one that converts into cash. Every figure in this notebook is written in that second currency.

That structure is what keeps the model lawful in most of the country. No purchase is ever required to enter or win. Buying coins buys play money, and the free entries arrive alongside as a promotional bonus, in the same way a code appears under a bottle cap. Every operator in the notebook runs a working free route.

The free routes worth using

• Daily login bonus, the backbone of any free account, often with a streak bonus
• Postal and web entry, written into most terms and rarely used, usually the biggest single free allocation
• Social giveaways, time limited and normally the quickest way to add real credit
• Missions and tasks, which pay in the currency that converts rather than in play money

The floor is the hidden cost

Every operator sets a minimum usable balance before it will process a withdrawal. In this notebook it runs from fifty to one hundred coins. It is the most consequential number in the market and it is almost never advertised, because it turns a generous sounding welcome into a waiting period.

At the cashier

Redemption swaps the prize currency for cash to a bank, card or wallet. Identity verification is required by law and is much easier done at signup than with a balance waiting. Times in this notebook ran from twenty-two to seventy hours, and a first withdrawal is usually slower than later ones.