People send physical letters to sweepstakes casinos to collect free virtual coins (Sweeps Coins) through a legally required process called the Alternative Method of Entry (AMOE). To comply with U.S. sweepstakes laws, operators must provide a no-purchase entry method that lets players request free, cash-redeemable credits by mail without spending money.
Some online casinos have online forms to comply with AMOE requirements, but they are far less common than the shockingly old-fashioned physical letter sent via the U.S. Postal Service.
Naturally, some people try to exploit the system with bots and AI, which helps explain why online forms are less common.
The fact that the credits provided are usually in the range of USD 5 worth of credit using the alternative gaming coin systems has even created a subculture of fans that calculate the ROI of mailing these requests.
For example, if a player calculates that the total cost of mailing a request to a specific casino costs $1 (including everything, paper, envelope, postal services), and the estimated monetary value of the credit provided is $5, the theoretical ROI is a substantial 400%.
Is Mailing a Sweepstakes Casino a Real Investment?
The problems with that notion are evident to anyone with a minimum knowledge of casinos, accounting, and econometrics.
If the credits provided were directly redeemable in cash or gift cards, then yes, the ROI would be substantial.
If someone could be bothered to get a lot of people to do it, and organize the collection of those profits, it would still take a lot of work for a few bucks that any hot job in America would probably pay more.
But the credits normally have to be used in the casino, and the player then would be exposed to another layer of friction, which is actually knowing which games present low volatility, to then maybe have money to withdraw in the form of gift cards or cash withdrawals where it is legal in America to do so in a sweepstakes casino.
So the reality is that it is not only impractical, but also time-consuming and not a problem for the sweepstakes business model.
Moreover, game RTPs in sweepstakes casinos can be lower than at real-money operators, and the actual figures are usually a closely guarded secret.
How RTPs Actually Work in Sweepstakes Casinos (And Real-Money!)
Casino fans don’t know this, but operators usually choose the RTP from a selected set of options provided by the GSP. So games can literally pay more depending on the casino, even if it is the same slot!
How RTPs Work in Land-Based Casinos Like in Vegas
This is as unknown to many casino fans as the fact that legislation stipulates how different physical slots can be in terms of RTP depending on their location on a casino floor. Slots in higher-traffic areas pay slightly higher RTPs to entice players to use machines in less crowded areas, where their fortunes won’t be as high.
We’re talking about 2% differences, not major, but still, the intricacies of casino regulations and industry practices that are well-defined by rigorous mathematical models and RNGs, as well as certification of physical and virtual machines, surely are beyond the knowledge of the usual casino fan.
So the illusion of making big bucks by mailing a pretty please to a sweeps operator is more of a hobby than a reliable way to bleed operators’ margins.
In fact, the whole subculture and the players act as a way to promote the sweeps casinos themselves.
Beyond the physical “pretty please,” if you will, people actually actively ask for freebies when contacting the CS of sweeps casinos.
Some real-money execs might be surprised by how often operators say yes and credit tokens to their accounts. Usually, the casino won’t be stupid enough to credit the internal currency that allows direct withdrawals as gift cards or cash withdrawals, but mistakes can happen.
By answering yes to these requests, even beyond the official physical letter programs, sweeps casinos can document this and claim that they really go a step further when it comes to AMOE compliance.
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