Jessica Welman, the Editor of SBCAmericas joined the iGamingDaily to provide light on the differences between social and sweepstake casinos, following a class action lawsuit that was filed against VGW in the state of Georgia.
VGW is behind some of the biggest sweepstakes sites in the US, Luckyland, Chumba and Global Poker. However, Welman revealed that many sweepstakes do refer to themselves as social casinos.
She said: “I think when you hear the word social, at least in the US, we think of Candy Crush, Slotamania, things where you may be spending money to get tokens to play, but the end of the day, you’re just playing for fun and there’s no real prize at the end of the tunnel.”
Sweepstakes, on the other hand, operate in the US under sweepstake laws, where there are prizes at stake. Welman added that “the biggest indicator to sweepstakes sites is there is some sort of dual currency system”.
Key to them being deemed a sweepstake casino is the second currency, which unlike the first currency, has real money value.
The second currency has some sort of value outside of the world that can be redeemed for dollars. Sweepstakes sites essentially allow you to bulk buy this secondary currency. Many argue that this is just a really complicated way to fund a casino.
Welman added: “It’s a roundabout funding mechanism, essentially. So the critics of this are saying this is essentially an online casino with just complicated funding, not really at the root of what sweepstakes law is intended to cover.”
The episode went on to detail the case in Georgia, where Destiny Kennedy filed a lawsuit against VGW. It’s a case that could have a significant impact on the rest of the sweepstake sector and the way it engages players.
