Why Sweepstakes Casinos Are a Blessing for New Yorkers
This content was produced in partnership with Bazoom Group.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) decriminalized online gambling and allowed states to provide legislation for online gambling. Since then, many states have come forward and legalized it. But not New York. It’s still one of the few states that criminalizes casinos as well as sportsbooks.
But what about the New Yorkers who like to play casino games in their free time? Well, they have Sweepstakes as an alternative. If you’re interested, BonusFinder has a list of sweepstakes casinos you can sign up for now!
If you’ve never played at a social casino before, you may want to read this post to the end. The operations of these sites are slightly different from regular online gambling platforms.
What are Sweepstakes Casinos?
The state of New York not only bans online gambling but also very strictly regulates sweepstakes sites. Interested companies are required to place a bond and report vigorously to the New York State Gaming Commission.
Sweepstakes are a form of gambling. And to comply with the laws of NY, potential operators must let go of one of three elements that go into gambling - prize, consideration and chance.
If the operators eliminate chance and prize from the equation, it won’t take long for them to go out of business. So, they did what made the most sense. They let go of consideration.
It means you can win prizes by chance when you play at sweepstakes sites in New York.
How Do These Gambling Sites Work?
Sweepstakes casinos or social casinos are primarily legal across the country. Do you know why? It’s simply because they eliminate the use of real money. You can’t play the games in their dollar value.
Instead, you have to buy Gold Coins with real money. Think of them as buying coins for an arcade machine.
Using the gold coins you just bought, you can play usual casino games like online slots as well as table games like Roulette, Blackjack, Baccarat and even poker.
The only catch is that you won’t win any real money. But a clever twist makes sweepstakes casinos a viable alternative to typical online casinos.
When playing the games, you can randomly win sweeps coins. Unlike gold coins, these coins are redeemable. Some operators let you redeem the sweeps coins for real money, while others provide real money prizes.
Once you have some sweeps coins in your account, you can either redeem them or use them to play games again. But there’s no guarantee that you’ll win more sweeps coins if you use them as your input.
Apart from these, you’ll also keep winning gold coins from winning symbol combinations on slot games or a Natural in Blackjack, just like you do at real online casinos.
What Are the Top Legal Sweepstakes Casinos in New York?
You already know how strict the gambling laws of NY are. As a result, the number of available sweepstakes casinos is very limited. Here are the best of them.
Chumba Casino
Chumba has created a monopoly in sweepstakes. It has a massive selection of casino games, including video poker, slots, table games and more. Chumba Casino allows you to buy gold coins when you first sign up. You can also win sweeps coins for cash prizes.
LuckyLand Slots
Another big name in the social gambling space is LuckyLand slots. Interestingly, LuckyLands and Chumba are owned by the same company, the VGW Group. As a result, you can expect a similar game library that’s constantly expanding with new games!
As usual, you start playing with gold coins and hope to win sweeps coins as you keep playing the games at LuckyLand.
If you or anyone you know has a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER.