Illustration: SweepstakeReport
editorial · 2026-08-28 · 7 min read
A sweepstakes is not a gold-coin casino
If you have to buy coins, 'gold,' or a starter pack to play, it is not a no-purchase-necessary sweepstakes — no matter what the homepage says.
By Kyle Lewis, Editor
This is an editorial explainer, not a news dispatch. Nothing here is a report of a leak, a lawsuit we did not read, or a quote we invented.
Disclosure: Chance Infinite, discussed below, is operated by Luck Incorporated LLC, the company that publishes this site.
United States sweepstakes law is older than the app store. A promotion can give away a prize by chance only if you can enter without paying. If paying improves your odds, the promotion is a lottery, which private operators generally cannot lawfully run. That is why legitimate rules say, in some variation, that no purchase is necessary and that a purchase will not improve your chances of winning.
A newer product category markets itself with the word 'sweepstakes' while selling virtual gold coins, or selling a sweepstakes-coin bundle next to a 'free' daily drip. Those products — often called sweepstakes casinos — are not what this site ranks. We exclude operators such as Chumba, Pulsz, McLuck, Stake.us, Fortune Coins (now operating as Fortune Wins), and LuckyLand Slots (announced by its operator to shut down September 14, 2026) by policy, because, per each operator's own terms as profiled on our casino pages, gold-coin packages are sold with sweepstakes coins bundled alongside the free routes. Whether a particular operator's AMOE holds up in court is a question for regulators and judges, not for a ranking table.
A genuine no-purchase product looks different. Tickets or entries are earned or requested. There is nothing to add to a cart. Official rules are readable without a purchase funnel. If there is an alternate method of entry, it is actually usable — a mail-in, an email, a free account, a form — not a scavenger hunt designed to make you give up and buy coins.
Chance Infinite, which we review separately, is in a third category that is easy to mix up with the second: a mobile app with Plinko, Mines, Keno, Crash, and other simulated-gambling games, plus a cash prize. The distinction that matters for this site is commercial. Luck Incorporated LLC's App Store listing (retrieved August 31, 2026) and luckincorporated.com both state that tickets are earned, never sold; that there are no coin packs, subscriptions, or a card on file; and that no purchase is necessary. The in-app games wager tickets that the operator says have no cash value. That is why it is on this list. It is also why we still label the 18+ simulated-gambling rating in the review, instead of pretending the games look like a baking contest.
If a store page, a streamer, or an ad uses 'sweepstakes' and a checkout button in the same breath, leave. Read the official rules. If you cannot enter without paying, it does not belong here. Every term this piece leans on, from consideration to the dual-currency model, is defined plainly on our definitions page; the six biggest operators are profiled from their own documents on the casinos page; and the legal record against the model is dated on the crackdown timeline.
Related reviews: Chance Infinite