Your first experiences with sweepstakes casino play might feel like a whole new world, full of colors and sounds and terms you might not know. This glossary should help you to “speak the language” of sweepstakes casinos.
Sweepstakes Casino Glossary
- Account Verification: The system for verifying your identity as well as your eligibility to play.
- AMOE (Alternate Method of Entry): A means of entering a sweepstakes or promotion without having to make a purchase, typically to meet legal requirements for a sweepstakes casino to operate.
- Bonus Codes: Codes provided by a sweepstakes casino for acquiring virtual currency.
- Bonus Coins: Virtual currency awarded to a player (via promotions or rewards) allowing game play for free.
- Bonus Round: A gameplay feature typically found in slots in which a player is offered additional opportunities to win in an elevated version of normal gameplay.
- Buy-In: An amount of coins required to play a given game.
- Cash Prize Redemption: Converting virtual winnings into money or rewards with cash value.
- Cashout Process: The steps a player goes through to enable cash prize redemption.
- Coin Package: A bundle of virtual currency, which can be purchased or made available through a bonus code or other sweepstakes casino giveaway mechanism.
- Daily Login Bonus: A reward system that awards virtual currency to players who log in to a sweepstakes casino site daily. Some daily log-in bonuses offer increasing bonuses for consecutive daily log-ins.
- Daily Sweepstakes: Regularly-occurring contests in which players can win prizes through daily participation.
- Deposit Bonus: A reward given to a player for making a deposit, typically a portion of the deposit.
- Entry Method: The system by which players gain entry into sweepstakes contests.
- Free Coins: Currency awarded to a player without payment required.
- Free-to-Play Mode: Games allowing players to join in without paying money. Sometimes referred to as Demo Mode.
- Gaming Credits: Virtual currency (or points) enabling sweepstakes casino gameplay.
- Geolocation Restrictions: Limitations on who can play at a sweepstakes casino based on where the player is located.
- Gold Coins: Virtual currency used for gameplay, which cannot be converted into monetary prizes or rewards with cash value.
- Instant Win: A game feature that offers immediate prizes without extended gameplay.
- Jackpot: The largest prize available in a sweepstakes casino game, typically tied to specific (and uncommon) game outcomes.
- Leaderboard: A system that shows top players and their scores in sweepstakes casino competitions.
- License: The certification indicating that a sweepstakes casino can operate legally in a specific jurisdiction.
- Loyalty Program: A system that rewards players for consistent gameplay, which can include bonuses or other gameplay incentives. Typically, these are tiered programs rewarding more gameplay.
- Multiplier: A feature common to slots increasing winnings by a designated number.
- No Deposit Bonus: A bonus awarded to a player without requiring a deposit, typically tied to that player signing up to a sweepstakes casino platform, completing account verification, or following a site’s social media accounts.
- No Purchase Necessary: A reward in which players can acquire Sweeps Coins without spending money.
- Paylines: The lines on a slot game’s reels determining winning combinations.
- Play-for-Fun: A gameplay mode win which players use Gold Coins (but can’t win money or other prizes with cash value).
- Playthrough Requirements: A requirement attached to all sweeps coins earned, in which those sweeps coins must be played a certain number of times before they can be cashed out for prizes.
- Unlike real-money casinos, all sweeps coins earned–and not just those earned through bonuses–must be “played through.”
- Prize Draw: A lottery-style event in which winners are randomly selected from a pool of participants.
- Prize Eligibility: The criteria players must meet in order to redeem prizes.
- Progressive Jackpot: A jackpot that increases over time, correlating with individual players’ wagers.
- Promo Codes: See Bonus Codes.
- Promotional Purchase: A transaction in which a player buys virtual currency, sometimes tied to a bonus.
- Promotional Sweepstakes: A sweepstakes casino game in which players use Sweeps Coins to win prizes.
- Redeemable Coins: Sweeps Coins meeting the casino’s playthrough requirement, which can be exchanged for money or prizes with cash value. Sweeps sites will require you to accumulate different amounts of SC before you can convert them to prizes. Sometimes these redemption amounts can change depending on the banking method chosen.
- Refer-a-Friend Bonus: A reward given to a player for referring a new player (or new players) to the casino. These bonuses might be given after a friend signs up using a sign-up code, but they may also only be triggered after a friend signs up AND you make a Gold Coin package purchase.
- Reload Bonus: A bonus offered to a player for making additional purchases on the sweepstakes casino platform.
- Responsible Gambling: A casino’s means of promoting controlled gaming, which may include purchase limits and self-exclusion.
- RNG (Random Number Generator): A system that ensures game outcomes are both fair to all players and randomly generated.
- RTP (Return to Player): The percentage of wagers that a slot game is programmed to return to players over time.
- Scatter Symbol: A symbol in a slots game that signals bonus features awarded to that player.
- Slots: Sweepstakes casino games featuring spinning reels and symbols, reminiscent of slot machines.
- Social Casino: An online casino platform with free-to-play games, encouraging social interaction among its players.
- Social Sweepstakes Casino: An online casino platform combining social interaction with sweepstakes-based gaming.
- Sweepstakes Casino: An online platform allowing players to play casino games using virtual currency, including games in which players can win money or prizes with cash value.
- Sweeps Coins: Virtual currency used to enter sweepstakes casino games, which can be redeemed for cash prizes.
- Terms and Conditions: Rules that players agree to when participating in games or promotions, typically as part of the sign-up process.
- VIP Program: A type of loyalty program for a sweepstakes casino, typically using a tier system to incentivize players.
- VIP Tiers: The levels in a VIP program, offering different groupings of rewards.
- Virtual Currency: Credits used for playing sweepstakes casino games, including Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins.
- Virtual Wallet: A digital account where a sweepstakes casino player keeps virtual currency.
- Volatility: A measure of risk in a sweepstakes slot game, indicating how much and how often players can win. High-volatility slots pay out less frequently but in larger amounts. The opposite is true for low-volatility slots.
- Wager Requirement: The number of times a bonus or coins must be played before winnings can be redeemed. (See: Playthrough Requirement)
- Wild Symbol: A symbol in a slot game that can substitute for others to create winning combinations.
- Winning Spins: Successful game spins resulting in rewards.
- Withdrawal Limits: Restrictions on how much virtual currency can be redeemed within a set timeframe.
Know the terms; play with confidence
Knowing a few basic terms will help you enjoy your experience playing at sweepstakes casinos. Bookmark this page for quick reference should you ever need a glossary of sweepstakes casino terms.