Social & Sweeps Casino games

✍️ Written by Bronwen Parry

✅ Fact checked by Mutuo Mbilla

🗓 Updated: September 26th, 2023

If you’re new to sweepstake gaming, you may be wondering which sweeps games you can play and where to find the best titles. The short answer to your question is; right here! VegasCasino.io tests and ranks every sweeps game as soon as it hits a social casino lobby.

What are sweeps games?

You’ll no doubt be happy to know that most of your favorite casino type games are available to play at social and sweeps casinos. But the even better news is that they are all 100% free to play!

At a sweepstake casino, all the games are free to play, for as long as you want. Whether you want to play the sweeps games with gold coins or sweeps coins, there is absolutely no purchase necessary.

So, does this mean that you can’t win anything playing sweeps games? No, it really doesn’t. There are still endless prizes on offer. Read on to find out more about the range of sweeps games available, how they work, and which sweepstakes casino games you should consider playing.

Types of sweeps games

You can play most of the popular casino games, such as roulette, baccarat and blackjack at social and sweepstakes casinos. However, there are also less widely played sweepstakes games that you might not expect, such as bingo and scratch card games.

Many of these new style casinos specialize in a particular type of game. Most sweeps sites tend to be very heavy on the slots. This includes everything from simple classic fruit-game slots to big bonus round games and progressive jackpot slots. While you will find other types of games at most sweeps casinos, expect the slots lobby to be the most active part of the site.

Sweepstake table games

Table games include card games, dice games and also games such as roulette. In short, they are the games that at a traditional casino, would be played around a table. Clever name, huh?!

Table games are always popular, so at sweepstakes casino sites you can expect to find these games well represented. The most common sweeps table games include stalwarts such as roulette, baccarat and blackjack. However, at many social and sweeps casinos, more unusual table games such as dragon tiger, sic bo and teen patti are now beginning to arrive.

Sweeps table games come in a choice of versions, and occasionally even in a live dealer format. At Pulsz, for example, you can play Texas Hold’em Poker, and two versions of blackjack, baccarat and roulette. Even at Fortune Coins, where there’s a strong emphasis on slot games, you can still try your luck at the roulette table if you want.

Do be aware, however, that not every sweepstakes casino has a wide range of table games. Some definitely prefer to focus on slots and scratch cards, for example. So, take a good look at what’s available at each site at the research stage before deciding where to create an account.

Sweepstake live dealer games

While the majority of sweeps games are automated, some sites offer a live dealer lobby. This means that you are actually interacting with a real-life dealer, and maybe other real-life players. The players are playing from home, but the live dealer action is streamed live from a physical venue, giving you the cinematic glamour of being in your own James Bond movie!

While live dealer games are always very popular, they can be harder to find at sweepstakes casinos. Why? Live dealer games can be expensive to run. Platforms running these games need to pay the dealer, and pay for a venue to stream the action from. At social casinos, where everyone is playing for free, this isn’t always practical.

For that reason, you may well find that your preferred social casino simply doesn’t offer a live dealer lobby. However, it’s not impossible to find live dealer games at social casinos. BetRivers.net, for example, does provide some live games. Right now, the site includes several live sweeps games, many powered by top studio Evolution Gaming.

Sweepstake slot games

When it comes to slot games, this is where social casinos really seem to want to push the boat out. Many have literally hundreds of slot games to choose from. Online slots essentially replicate the classic slots that we’ve probably all played, and sweep slots are no different. They’ll include progressive jackpot slots, bonus round slots and classic fruit machine-style slots.

Plenty of people enjoy trying free-to-play slots, in ‘demo’ mode, at various casinos. Playing at a social casino tends to be a bit of a different experience, however. That’s because when you are using sweeps coins, you could be potentially winning something redeemable for real cash prizes. It therefore feels a bit more like a win when you hit that jackpot.

There is a pretty impressive selection of social slots in the lobby at most social casinos. Pulsz has over 300, for example! Most sweeps slots are the exact same games, often from the same providers, as you may have played elsewhere. There are also exclusive sweeps slots at some casinos, so you’ll be able to mix it up. Try playing some of your old favorites, as well as some brand-new games that you’ve likely never played before.

Sweepstake baccarat

Baccarat is a popular game across the world, possibly because it is simple to learn and easy to play. Unlike other casino-style card games, such as poker, there is no real skill required to play baccarat. It really is just a game of luck, so beginners have a pretty good chance of winning with it, especially as there is a fairly low house edge involved.

There are a few different versions of baccarat, but most sweeps casinos stick to standard baccarat or maybe a mini-baccarat game.

Baccarat is so simple because you just play against the dealer, and the only thing you have to do is decide whether the player or the dealer hand will win. In baccarat, the winning hand is simply the one that comes out closest to nine. There are a few more rules, but those are the basics, so it really is all down to luck.

While you won’t find baccarat games in all social or sweepstakes casino lobbies, there are a few that provide it. You can play baccarat at BetRivers.com, for example, and it even offers a baccarat game option as part of its live dealer lobby.

Sweepstake blackjack

Blackjack is one of those classic casino games that almost everyone has heard of. Many of us will have played social blackjack, also sometimes known as ’21’, with friends at home. In this game, your only aim is to end up with a hand of cards that adds up to 21, or as close as possible to it, without going over 21 and ending up ‘bust’.

Blackjack is a game that is very popular because it is simple, but there is still a little skill or strategy involved. That’s because as a player, you have to decide when to stick on your current hand, and when to take another card. This means that it can be nerve-racking for a beginner at a casino, but a lot less stressful when playing with sweeps coins at a social casino.

As with many other casino-style card games, there are a few different versions of blackjack, all with slightly different rules, so make sure that you know which one you’re playing. You can get hold of blackjack strategy cards that will help you make better decisions, or just read up on the various strategies that experienced players use so that you have a better idea of when to stick and when to hit.

In brick-and-mortar casinos, blackjack is known as a game that can sometimes be won with the right card counting strategies, which can give you a good idea about how many high and low cards are left in the deck, and influence whether you stick or hit. However, this generally isn’t a practical strategy in online blackjack. It’s probably best to just learn some basic strategies and then sit back and enjoy the game. This is another game with a fairly low house edge, so your chances of a win are pretty good.

Sweepstake poker

Poker is one of the most popular sweeps games, which really isn’t surprising when you think about it. These casinos are often known as social casinos, after all, and there’s something very social about sitting around a virtual poker table playing a game of Texas Hold’em or maybe Three-Card Poker Deluxe.

You may well have played social poker games with your friends, sometimes even using matchsticks or other ‘tokens’ to see who the winner is at the end of the game. Poker at a social casino is similar, and for those who really enjoy the social aspect of the game, it can be a fun way to spend an evening.

Social poker may not have quite the same thrill as when you are playing for actual money, but you can, of course, win sweeps coins as in all the other games. As you’ve probably gathered by now, this means that you are in with a chance of winning prizes. Poker is another game that you won’t find at every social casino, but there are often table games available at the casinos.

Sweepstake roulette

Roulette is another one of those online sweepstakes games that attracts plenty of attention. It is a game that many associate with the James Bond-style glamour of real-life casinos, but ultimately, it is a simple game of chance that requires no real experience or skill, so social players love to give it a go.

Roulette has a relatively low house edge, as long as you choose red or black, or odds or evens. With these options, there is an almost 50/50 chance of winning, though this does depend on the version of the game you play. American roulette, for example, carries a higher house edge than European roulette.

However, you may want to put all those sweeps coins on your lucky number, for example. Statistically, this hands the house a very high edge as it’s highly unlikely that your number will come up. If it does, though, you’ll earn a bigger reward, as the odds are higher the less likely the outcome.

Roulette is available at some social casinos, and if there is a live lobby, you may be able to play it with a real dealer. In the automated versions of the game, the sweeps casino uses random number generators to ensure that the odds are the same as they would be in the physical version of the game, so that everything plays out fairly for everyone involved.

Other social casino games

There are other online sweeps games that don’t really fit neatly into any of the above categories. After all, there are no rules about the types of games that sweepstakes casinos can offer, as long as they are designed to be fair and random, and the casino is transparent about how they work and the odds of winning. Here are just a few of the other types of games you might find at some social casinos.

Bingo games

Most of us are familiar with the concept of bingo. You have a card (virtual in the case of online bingo) with various numbers, and these numbers are called out and then covered over on your card. The first person to cover all the numbers on their card wins the game. As with other online sweepstakes games, numbers are generated randomly in sweeps bingo to ensure that the game is fair.

Scratch card games

The scratch cards that can be bought in physical form in various outlets can also be replicated in a social casino. Pulsz, for example, has various scratch card games available and they work pretty much the same as traditional scratch cards. Just ‘rub off’ the covering (some apps allow you to do this on the screen of your device) and reveal the winning (or losing, if you’re unlucky) numbers.

Keno

This is a lottery-style game that’s very similar to bingo. However, in online Keno, players generally choose numbers off a screen. The caller then calls out the numbers and those who chose the correct ones are the winners. Each casino may have slightly different rules for Keno, so check them out before you jump into an online game.

Sweeps casinos are increasingly innovative. Although they use a lot of the same games as regular casinos, many of them also have exclusive games. These are designed specifically for a particular site and may be different from any other casino game you have previously played. To get the most out of your social casino experience, keep an eye on the reviews here at VegasCasino.io. You never know what kinds of games you might discover.

Winning with sweeps games

We’ve learnt that sweeps games are virtually identical to the games you would play in any other casino. What is unique is the way that they pay out. You will not win any actual money in a social casino, but nor do you have to pay to play.

You can play everything from roulette games and different versions of poker and blackjack to progressive jackpot slots, but you will be playing all these games for fun, not profit. So, what exactly do you win, and what sort of payments do you use to play with?

In sweeps casinos, you will be using credits known as sweeps coins or gold coins. You earn these coins by signing up to the casino, winning games and taking various actions, both on and off the site. Depending on the casino, you may also be able to buy gold coins from the store, and each gold coin purchase may come with a bonus of free sweeps coins.

However, these coins have no monetary value as such. You can simply use them to play games on the site, and enter the regular sweepstakes that the casino runs. That’s when you get the chance to win real prizes.

The prizes on offer are different at each sweepstake casino, but could potentially be almost anything, including gift cards, tickets to events, or even a vacation or a car.

Many players find the whole social casino experience a real win-win. They get to play online sweepstake games for fun, but still get to potentially win prizes. There is of course no guarantee of winning anything on a sweeps game, but in our experience what is guaranteed is the fun!