Subscription-based sweepstakes offer a new approach to the popular sweepstakes casino gameplay. Rather than making Gold Coin purchases, players pay a recurring fee instead to access all the site’s features, just like a video gaming or streaming subscription.
But can subscription sweepstakes casinos be legal where traditional sweeps apps are banned? In this article, we’ll take a closer look at this model, how exactly it differs from the traditional sweepstakes structure, and whether it provides a proper escape from the regulatory scrutiny sweepstakes casinos have been facing in recent years.
Subscription-based sweepstakes casinos aim to charge recurring membership fees for access to games, tournaments, cashback, and other features offered within a product. Players pay the price for membership and can receive recurring Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins and other perks.
In contrast, the traditional sweepstakes model allows you to make Gold Coin (GC) purchases and receive bonus Sweeps Coins (SC) alongside. Purchases are optional, though, and you can choose to play with only the free bonuses you receive.
Subscription sweepstakes are emerging as an alternative to the traditional sweeps model, which is facing heavy pushback. Sweepstakes are now illegal in 12 US states, including New York and California, and several other states are reviewing the legality of these sites, so more laws could be enacted to restrict sweeps gaming as time goes on.
In response, some operators are pulling out of markets completely. At the same time, others are working out ways to still offer their products within legal parameters. Some of the best sweepstakes casinos on our Sweeptastic homepage are shifting to single-currency-only gaming where you just use GC for fun. Others are looking to switch to live online bingo. Others still are experimenting with the idea of subscription-based gaming.
While all these may offer a different approach to the sweeps model, the big question is whether they can allow operators to sidestep the tightening regulations, or whether they’ll face the same challenges.
Where traditional sweeps don’t require you to make a purchase but rather offer free GC and SC, the features of subscription gaming, including games, bonus currencies, and more, will only be available for players who purchase a membership. Most lawmakers and regulators argue that where there is some consideration (payment), chance-based gaming, and prizes, players could be paying for a chance to get real money benefits.
This is the same reason sweepstakes casinos have come under heavy scrutiny in several states and have been banned in about a dozen of them. And with payments crucial to the subscription-based model, it’ll be hard to separate any prize redemptions from the paid premium. As such, paid membership sweepstakes casinos could face the same scrutiny.
While earlier anti-sweeps laws focused on attacking the dual currency mechanic, newer legislation like Maine’s LD2007 is more thorough, focusing on the functionality and how these sites work in practice. Although the subscription-based model presents a new packaging, if the way the platform works remains the same, so will the legal questions. Do players have to pay to play chance-based games, and can they benefit from real money prizes because of the consideration they’ve made?
The subscription sweepstakes model may be a new pivot for sweepstakes operators, but whether it’s the legal solution to the sweepstakes model is uncertain. The model offers players a path to prize redemptions while eliminating the optional purchase of Gold Coin packages. At the same time, it places a more obvious focus on payments since a membership fee will be required to use the product. Unless subscription-based sweepstakes can prove that the paid premium is completely separate from any prize rewards, they’ll likely suffer the same crackdowns as traditional sweepstakes.
