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What do you know about sweepstakes? I heard that some online casinos are using sweepstakes law to sidestep gambling regulations, they said users aren't really betting with their money but instead they are betting seepstakes ticket, this person also said that someone need to buy social coin and get those sweepstake tickets for free.

He also said that sweepstakes is not gambling and I am confused, he made mention of Stake.US as one of those online casinos using sweepstakes, I did my own research and it's said that sweepstakes are illegal, this is why I am confused.

Maybe those in the US on this forum can answer this question diligently?

1. Is Sweepstakes illegal in the US?

2. Is Sweepstakes gambling or not?

No gambling in general is not against the law as long as there's strict attention to the guiding rules that supports each kind of sports gambling activities.


It's gambling, in most cases involves the use of horses yet some gamblers put in their money and gamble and the winner takes the stakes and go, it is commonly practiced in most developed countries, it's also another form of gambling which is different from the sport betting or casino gambling we are used to.

I thought that sweepstake is gambling because its a game of luck and you are hoping to win but by definition, it's not gambling, this is why some countries that restrict gambling allow companies to launch sweepstakes because it does not involve betting your own money.


Are Sweepstakes Considered Gambling? (https://www.gamblingnews.com/blog/what-are-sweepstakes/)


Consumer guide to swwepstakes (https://www.uspis.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/pub-546_consumers-guide-to-sweepstakes-lotteries_508.pdf)

Yeah it's another kind of gambling though not all regards it as gambling since they don't need to stake a penny to participate, cause stakesweepers gambling doesn't require the entrants to place a bet or money as a way of multiplying their chances of winning as that is described as illegal. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.viralsweep.com/advanced-sweepstakes

Note:
Often times scammers do send private messages unsuspecting persons congratulating them to have won in a stakesweepers contest, so people are usually advised to be careful not to be scammed.

Sweepstakes is basically gambling, but entry is free. The idea was enforced by the US afaik, and any sweepstakes claiming to be one that asks for an entry free would be illegal since it's at that point, called gambling.  I would differentiate between the two since sweepstakes involve (should involve anyway) no money, at all, in any form. You can compare it to a bonus so to speak in grocery stores or markets.

It isn't illegal in the US, in fact, afaik it started from the US, or at least, the idea that sweepstake was a form of having a chance of winning something without having the need to spend money.

Buying ticket and using it to bet has already confirmed that they use their money to bet. The same money which would used to bet directly has been used or converted to the ticket and still use it for the game. The ticket is not free, you must but the social coin to get the ticket so I don't see any free ticket and free betting there.

What make it illegal if not gambling, if ticket is used to bet on the site then it automatically a gambling site. In your own research what did you see. Is it a gambling site or not?

I am not from US but just like to make some input and to know some questions you raise.

Honestly, if you're required to put your money or valuable items at stake and the winner is determined randomly, it does feel like gambling to me too, regardless of how it's presented or labeled. It's like trying to put lipstick on a pig - it's still a pig, right? The core concept of risking something valuable and relying on chance doesn't change just because it's called a sweepstakes or has different terms.

However, you've got it right! It can be quite confusing because sweepstakes and gambling regulations can vary from state to state in the US. In some places, sweepstakes are permitted under strict regulations, while gambling in general might be prohibited. So, it really depends on the specific laws of the state you're in, and it's probably best to check the local regulations or consult with legal experts who are familiar with that area.

I'm not from the US so I'm not going to talk much about the rules there or legal issues whether it's illegal or not, but to answer sweepstakes is gambling or not I consider it to be gambling just like lottery tickets, if we buy something to get a raffle ticket for example and then getting a big prize , I think it is included in the list of gambling.

Sweepstakes may be almost the same as lottery tickets even though the way it works is a little different to get certain prizes then tickets and sweepstakes will make money or big prizes in that lottery, but I say again it's still a gamble from my personal opinion.

Sweepstakes is legal in US as long as it follows the guidelines on conducting it. It’s still often use by company if they want to advertise certain product to the public. Sweepstakes is just a raffle which participants is voluntary participating without fiat involved. They often using coins which you can use to exchange on certain reward. But there’s some organizer of sweepstakes that offers coins that can be exchange via fiat fiat to dodge the gambling tax.


The original sweepstakes is not a gambling because it shouldn’t be involved real money. But on the current state which using loopholes on the law. Sweepstakes is sometimes gambling. But in reality, it should be just a free raffle while the prize is sponsored.

Sweepstakes jive with the idea of gambling because tickets are being sold to people u like before wherein it is in form of lottery by means of some requirements to be eligible of a ticket. What makes these two confusing is simply the involvement of money. Once an individual will be required to use an amount in order to avail the tendency of winning a bigger amount, without assurance, that is already gambling. Sweepstakes in general is allowed to many countries because of its lack of money involvement in order for people to be able to join. But things would be different in terms of the procedures or the process of how will it be executed.

Well by definition, anything that involves the use or the purchase of something in exchange for profit is gambling, but at the same time, these people from sweepstakes are getting around this by using technical loopholes, since when you play sweepstakes you don't necessarily put in money in order to join, sometimes you just need a ticket and to register and you're good to go. Which is why sweepstakes is not gambling. Now, I get why some of these bad actors are using this technical loophole to avoid the law but at the same time authorities are capable of conducting arrests if they think something awry is afoot. And since that has been the case since time immemorial, I think your country's issue with illegal gamblers getting away with their stuff by calling their business "sweepstakes" is not necessarily a problem with technicalities, but a problem with the police system not being vigilant enough to apprehended suspected perpetrators.

Sweepstakes are not illegal in the US but some rules and regulations guide their operation. One of them is that everyone that enters the game must have an equal chance of winning. This means you can not give some persons preferential treatment because they bought your product. Some are free but other sweepstakes also have some minimum requirements for entrants.

Sweepstakes are not originally designed as gambling but when someone is given tickets after purchasing a product it now has some gambling features. Since you need to pay money to get social coins, it is now gambling. This is because there is a possibility that the company will use part of the money from the sales to finance the prizes. The bottom line is that we bought a coin because we want to win a prize, that's gambling.

It jives but it doesn't necessarily equate to gambling. Raffles aren't a form of gambling mind you, and sweepstakes are a form of raffle, actually it is the main form of raffle, so I agree with you when it comes to where the confusion is coming from. But then again, authorities are there to set a clear distinction, and I don't think they'll allow the public confuse it for the other, or use said confusion as an alibi when caught red-handed if you know what I'm saying. So it still boils down to whether OP's government is vigilant enough to apprehend these suspected illegal gambling activities or are they just gonna let it slide all because "the public doesn't know sweepstakes is not gambling". That's just being complacent.

It's just a way to get around the regulation but doesn't have must difference from the lottery where we obviously see it as gambling. The government tries to make Sweepstakes not gambling, they decide which is which but calling it a raffle sounds a bit not condemnable to the religious community.

This is like the government is finding a solution. Whether gambling or not, its already there you can play it.

It definitely the first time am hearing of sweepstakes and I did some digging but, couldn't find anything illegal about it.
Sweepstakes are a form of customer reward promotion. Hence, its entirely free, you got that right. The illegality in the system creeps in with parties involved making the chances of winning a dependent factor on how frequent you buy a product.
This ought to be a completely randomised selection in determining the winners.

If it qualifies as gambling?
Of course it does. Let's view it like some bonus received in whatever on going promotion. Using that to place a bet is you using your staking power as well and you could either profit or lose. Same applies with sweepstake from my view point.

I don’t believe that in the US, sweepstakes are considered gambling. This is because the accepted definition of sweepstakes includes that entries can be made without a purchase. If there is no purchase or nothing at stake, how can it be gambling? My understanding is that gambling requires a wager while sweepstakes does not.

If you are wondering how the US player gambling especially on online.

You can take an example from Stake on the US version, they use a coin rather than money ($). They using "SweepStakes" as well on the system because

IMO, based of these. Even the activity not involving money, but the game are from "Gambling" game. So, I still take this as gambling and remember people (Gambling problem from a person sometime is always not from involving money).

Well, I honestly do not know what to say, but from what I've read online on the topic of sweepstake, I've always considered it as gambling, since I think gambling does not necessarily mean that something have to be at stake..

I honestly do not live in the USA, and neither have I even been there, but what I do know is that, if they consider sweepstake to be gambling, it's probably because it actually is gambling.

We may look at sweepstakes as gambling but all the search results about sweepstakes consider it as not gambling because participation does not involve money it is very different from a lottery and from the contest on this screenshot we will see the difference so of there's n money involve we cannot consider it as gambling as there is no money is involved which is in the principle of gambling there should be money to participate.

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2023/05/17/sweep58d035355aef9237.png

^ I am not from the US but based on my research, it is not legal as long as it is subject to specific regulations at both the federal and state levels.
So I think it is better if you will ask the name of that sweepstakes casino so that we can find out if they are truly under the regulation by the state. My answer to the second question is yes. Sweepstakes are generally considered a form of gambling, although they are distinguished from other types of gambling, such as lotteries or casinos, by certain criteria. Sweepstakes typically involve a prize or prizes being awarded to winners selected at random. To avoid being involved in illegal gambling like this, sweepstakes must meet specific legal requirements, such as providing a free method of entry and not requiring participants to make a purchase or provide consideration in exchange for a chance to win.

It can be said illegal depending on how the lottery mechanism and what aspects are included in it, I think there are still many who hold a Sweepstakes in the US.

The Sweepstakes is gambling if we have to spend goods or money as a condition we can follow gambling, if there are no conditions and we can follow it freely it is only giving prizes with the Sweepstakes system, and that is in my opinion not gambling because it is not the exchange aspect of our opportunity to be able to take the Sweepstakes.

When it comes about being illegal then it would really be pertaining on a certain law of a certain country.
In speaking about US then it would really be not that costing you an arm and leg when it comes on making up some research.
Unlike a lottery, sweepstakes can be run by individual corporations and are not required to be federally or state sanctioned. Also dissimilar to lotteries, sweepstakes require no purchase to enter. In fact, it is illegal to require purchase to enter. (https://ussweeps.com/about-us/blog/articles/northern-us-states-sweepstakes-laws/#:~:text=Unlike%20a%20lottery%2C%20sweepstakes%20can,to%20require%20purchase%20to%20enter.)

Sweepstakes gambling or not? As long it does involved money then it is surely counted as gambling.As long it does involved money or funds for you to hope on
winning something then it would really be included on the criteria.

The majority of people misinterpret lottery and sweepstakes as one because it involves luck, but sweepstakes do not necessarily mean gambling, gambling is very much associated with taking a risk, in gambling, you are the one who is in control of your pick or bet and you get that privilege because you are putting money on it, on sweepstakes you can get in without money involve and you have no privilege to pick your bet or choice, you can get in because they gave you the privilege to part of it, like a company launching a sweepstake for all its employees, you get in being a part of the company and the winner is random.

They are closely related, sweepstakes is a type of lottery, and lottery if you check the meaning is also a kind of gambling. So to answer this question
Sweepstakes is a kind of gambling I would say although it does not involve you using your money just like  Superpicks  (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5449613.msg62123360#msg62123360.) on DSTV discussion I brought up before where people are expected to predict the outcome of games to win a prize money even without putting their own money. Without using your own money, some things still qualify as a kind of gambling.

So long as it is within regulations and the laws stipulated by the government, it isn't illegal.


It is! You are essentially taking a risk or a chance into winning something from a good/product that you bought. You still spent money, but not in a way that you use that money to participate in the stake. However since you are participating in something that includes chances and risk (that ticket or whatever that is connected with the good/product/whatever you bought), you are already gambling.

But to be able to get a bonus like for example in the grocery, you will still need to shop therefore it isn't totally free. There is also gambling who use the idea of sweepstakes in order to cater wide audience. The only thing in gambling compared to the first one that we use as an example is that some gambling companies can offer free money. In the sweepstakes casino that I play they have faucet and weekly bonus.

There is also a game like feature which lets you earn some free credits daily, hourly or weekly. This isn't enough though for a true gambler. Depositing own money is still the way to go for them if they want to enjoy longer and possibly earn a better profit.

Sweepstakes isn't a gambling activity in my opinion since you aren't risking anything to try and win something. This is why it's completely legal in the USA op. Other countries conduct them too, but call them different names.

One of the most popular forms of sweepstakes is ecommerce sweepstakes which usually attracts a ton of users.

Sweepstakes aren't gambling, sweepstakes is closer to a lottery than gambling. You don't need to invest for you to win when you participate in sweepstakes but if you're gambling, you have to make deposit for you win a bet and that's one of the difference.

Sweepstakes shoudn't be illegally in any country including the US as it does no harm to those participating in the game. Participants are just participating in a game of chance without been obligated to bet their money so how is that wrong in the eyes for the law.

If there are casino hiding under the influence of been a sweepstakes when they're not then the authorities should do their investigation and close down any casino caught to be guilty and not punish every sweepstakes company by banning them in the country.

Sweepstakes is a form of gambling and is not an illegal one in general terms, we can also consider such gambling being used as an open entertainment sport events that brings about people coming together to share their pleasurable moment with this event in sport, those that also take advantage of it in gambling are mostly part of the organizers, shareholders or other professional bodies including some government agencies all come together in support of this kind of activities, while some don't even known it's another means of gambling.

This is the first time I hear about these sweepstakes, at least with that name, and I don't know how they will work in the US or other countries, but in Spain (and since most European countries ara based in the Continental Laws, in many other I guess) it wouldn't be considered as gambling because it doesn't involve a money bet: more like a free raffle, but as you don't pay anything I don't think betting rules apply.

On the other hand, although they are not considered gambling, if you win any prizes it is called a "taxable event" and you have to pay for it as it was an income (in kind or cash), but the prizes are normally so low that people usually don't declare them (100$ in Amazon for example? I don't wish to win them in my dreams, and it is still too little money to break ones head and figure out how to classify it).

For me, entering sweepstakes constitutes gambling. Even if all that was required was the purchase of tickets, players still had to stake money on it in the hopes of winning the jackpot. It is well-known throughout the country, and many residents are hoping to win and transform their life with the money from the pot. Some players even spend a lot of money buying many tickets in the hope of increasing their chances of winning.
I'm not sure if sweepstakes operate similarly in other countries. I believe it should be regarded as gambling because participants are taking chances and hoping to win, but it's not as risky as other sorts of gambling.

AFAIK, sweepstakes are legal in US. However there might be some rules and regulations applied depending  of your residing state.

Regarding if it is a kind of gambling or not - no, it isn't. Did the participants wagered anything valuable to them? Did they paid for the tickets? If the answers are no, then it shouldn't be considered as a form of gambling. Sweepstakes is a marketing strategy of businesses wherein they giveaway prizes for the sake of promotion. From that context, all are free equals not gambling.

I had Close occurrence with ones Website where I wanted to know the different between sweepstake and gambling. So I can answer this as per the experience I had earlier. For example, the website that I am talking about is micro task site where you can do tasks and earn money with it. In the same Website they have sweepstake section where you can collect ticket entries for it by doing the tasks and earn those sweepstakes entries for a prize that is decided.

Now the website belongs to the Australian region where if you want to have gambling site then they very strict rules for the same. When contacted support then also mentioned that sweepstakes does not count as gambling and hence they can run it smoothly on the website. I believe both of them are different.

Sweepstakes is considered gambling and also it is very popular in the US. On my other topic regaring Gambling or gaming sites (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5451268.msg62196376#msg62196376), the site i mentioned have sweepstakes gambling and those are very active sites in the US.

In most of the Sweepstakes casinos you gotto buy the gaming coins to play and gamble. The coins can be converted to cash anytime by the same vendors from whom you buy those coins. Both gambling and sweepstakes are very similar in nature and i have no doubt gettig to the conclsuion that sweepstakes is gambling.

Let's make it simple, as long as it requires money at stake, that is considered gambling.

Referring specifically to sweepstakes, it now depends on how the mechanics or type were made. There are sweepstakes in the form of free bet that requires no money at stake. On the other hand, there are sweepstakes that can be purchased with money which is usually associated with lottery outlets, at least from the situation here in our country.


Maybe it best if we can have a reference for those online casinos involved.

However, should not be a big deal though to know as I'm more concerned if there's any crypto-gambling platform that was associated with that.

1. Is Sweepstakes illegal in the US?
It's illegal in some states. You can read more on onlysweeps website (https://onlysweeps.com/)

2. Is Sweepstakes gambling or not?
If you buy gold coins for your own money, then yes. If you just ues the AMOE methods to play for free, then I wouldn't really call it gambling. Possibly bait to gambling.