New Sweepstakes Casino Rules to Watch Out For

Recently, some newer sweepstakes casinos have been introducing clauses into their T&Cs or sweepstakes rules that may initially go unnoticed by players, but they often have drastic consequences, heavily limiting the amount of SC available for redemption or applying high playthrough requirements in an unexpected way.

In this article, I’ll be looking at Gains as a mini case study. It’s one social casino in particular that has been frustrating players lately, but this issue is part of a wider trend that could impact users across various US sweepstakes casinos.

Caps on Wins from Daily Bonuses/Low Value Coin Bundles

Gains is a site that’s still in beta mode, and we’ve found the issues in question tend to crop up at sites that are still refining their policies and building up to an official launch. To put it another way, at sites in beta mode, the rules and terms are often subject to change more frequently than at established sites.

In the case of Gains, it recently introduced the following clause to its ‘Sweepstakes Rules’ page:

To summarize:

• You can only ever cash out up to $100 total from Daily Claim Bonuses. Any excess is forfeited. This applies to the entire lifetime of your Gains account.
• If you buy a Gold Coin package under $20, any single win is capped at $1,000. Packages $20+ (and other SC sources) don’t have this cap.

For many players, this will be incredibly disappointing. Rules like this make bonus hunting very difficult, as total wins from daily bonus coins cannot ever go beyond a low ceiling of $100.

At the same time, even wins from some coin bundles (under $20, in this case) cannot go beyond the value of $1,000 when it comes to redemptions. Anything above this value will be forfeited. This starts to rule out low-spending players and pushes users into buying higher value packages to access unlimited wins.

In our experience, this type of rule is often used by newer casinos. That’s not to say that all newer sites work like this, but some do, whereas the older, established brands generally maintain unlimited wins from both bonus coins and coin bundles (as long as the specified playthrough requirements are met).

It’s also worth mentioning that this kind of unfortunate rule has long been standard at some bigger but newer operators such as A1 Development and UTech Solutions LLC.

Confusing Playthrough Requirements

We’ve also been seeing reports from players who’ve fallen foul of confusing playthrough requirement rules too. One such example came from a thread we spotted in a popular sweeps casino Facebook group where a Gains player vented their frustration over the requirements system.

She explained that even though she’d acquired some Sweeps Coins in a purchased bundle, when she checked her playthrough meter, they appeared to be tied to the (higher) playthrough requirement of bonus SC already sitting in her wallet.

She expected the purchased SC to fall under the standard 2x requirement, but because she bought the bundle while her balance still contained bonus SC with a 5x requirement, the system applied the 5x to all of her SC.

After speaking with support, she was told that the only reliable way to ensure the 2x requirement would apply was to reduce her wallet to 0 SC before making any new purchases. That way, the different SC types couldn’t blend and trigger the higher rule.

What makes these rules especially frustrating is that sometimes they’re not even listed in the T&Cs, sweepstakes rules, help center, or FAQs, and players often only find out after contacting support – and by then, it can already be too late.

Other sites reported to have confusing or high playthrough requirements recently include Zoot and Jumbo88. The latter even introduced terms stating that some types of bonus coins can be eligible for up to 1,000x playthrough requirements, which is astonishing.

Tips for Sweepstakes Players to Avoid Frustration

SweepsKings has prepared some tips to help players avoid falling victim to rules like those mentioned above. It’s vital to understand the system you’re playing within to avoid disappointment, so we advise the following:

• Use third party resources such as SweepsKings reviews, Trustpilot reviews, or communities and forums to quickly source opinions and reports from other players.
• Contact the casino in question’s support team and have them answer any queries so you can better understand their system before spending any money.
• It’s often wise to run your free play balance down to 0 before purchasing any coin bundles. This ensures you’re not mixing coins from bundles with those from bonuses that may have a higher playthrough requirement attached. As we’ve seen above, the higher playthrough requirement generally wins out in this case.
• Checking the terms of service and sweepstakes rules when you sign up is a must, as is checking the fine print on purchases and bonuses. This may seem cumbersome, but it’s worth it to avoid heartache down the line. Also, regularly checking for any changes is a good habit to get into – as we’ve seen, casinos can sneak in new terms without players noticing. Even we can’t keep up occasionally, which is why we published this article in the first place.

However, sometimes vital rules can be missing from a casino’s website. Ultimately, the safest way to avoid a poor experience like this is to game on a platform that has a solid reputation and plenty of positive user feedback.

Legitimate, well-reviewed sweepstakes casinos do not hide essential rules from their players. You can play there with peace of mind, knowing that playthrough requirements will be 1-3x and you can take home whatever you win.

To finish up, we’ve listed some casinos that SweepsKings can recommend for a transparent and enjoyable sweepstakes experience.