Michigan is one of just a few states to officially legalize all forms of online gambling. Online sports betting is expected to launch in early 2021, while online casinos and poker sites will follow soon after.
But even when online casinos launch, sweepstakes casinos will remain a viable place to play. The main reason is that you don’t need to make a purchase to win cash prizes. It’s also available to players as young as 18.
And while the 23 tribal and three commercial casinos want online gambling to launch soon, the Michigan Gaming Control Board may run into delays. That would make sweepstakes casinos the only legal online casino gaming option available to folks in Michigan, at least through the end of the year.
Safe And Trusted Sweepstakes Casinos
The two most popular sweepstakes casinos are Chumba Casino and LuckyLand. Both have built a long-standing reputation for quality, fairness, and win potential. In fact, on April 4, 2019, Donnalyn K. in Hawaii was the first person to become a millionaire by playing Chumba slots.
Michigan is a great state to play sweepstakes casinos because there’s no cash prize limit. States like New York and Pennsylvania have a set maximum cash prize, but players in Michigan can go for the big wins à la Donnalyn K.
LuckyLand and Chumba are mainly designed for slots players. While you can find some table games at Chumba, you’ll be better off playing blackjack and roulette at the real-money online casinos once they roll out.
However, the slots action at the sweepstakes casinos are on-par with any real-money casino, including the potential cash prizes. We’re talking about massive progressive jackpots, a wide selection of titles, and the option to redeem winnings for gift cards.
If you like the slot machines, we’re confident that you’ll enjoy Chumba and LuckyLand for the long-term. You get free play credits just for signing in on a daily basis, and receiving additional credits for free is easy. You also have the option to purchase more at any time.
There’s also the opportunity to play sweepstakes poker in Michigan, with sites like Global Poker.
Best Bonuses At Chumba Casino and LuckyLand Sweepstakes Casinos
The moment you make an account at Chumba Casino and LuckyLand, you’ll receive a no-purchase bonus of free Sweeps Coins. When you use Sweeps Coins to play games, whatever you win is redeemable for cash prizes (as long as it meets the minimum for redemption).
To sign up at a sweepstakes casino, you can simply use your Facebook or Google account. This makes the registration process practically instantaneous. You can also use any email and password, which will still only take a few minutes.
Once you make an account, you’ll have access to the following sweepstakes casino bonus offers:
| Sweepstakes Casino | No-Purchase Signup Bonus | First-Purchase Bonus | Login Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chumba Casino | 2 Sweeps Coins and 2 million Gold Coins | 30 Sweeps Coins for the price of 10 | 1 Sweeps Coin and 200,000 Gold Coins |
| LuckyLand | 10 Sweeps Coins and 7,777 Gold Coins | 10 Sweeps Coins for the price of 5 | 0.33 Sweeps Coins Per Day, 1 Sweeps Coin After 7 Consecutive Days |
From there, you’ll have access to a wide range of additional bonuses. However, Chumba Casino has reduced purchase prices more often than LuckyLand.
How To Play Sweepstakes Casinos In Michigan
The Sweepstakes Model, Explained
When you access a sweepstakes casino from Michigan, it may seem a bit confusing at first. But it’s a simple model that gives players a legal avenue to online casino gaming for cash prizes.
At both Chumba Casino and LuckyLand, you have two types of coins you can use to play: Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins. Gold Coins cannot be redeemed, but Sweeps Coins are redeemable for cash prizes or gift cards.
That means playing with Gold Coins is just for fun or practice, while playing with Sweeps Coins can mean prizes with real-world value.
How Do You Win Enough Sweeps Coins For Redemption?
To win cash prizes or gift cards, you need to win Sweeps Coins. That means you can’t redeem Sweeps Coins you received for free, they need to be used to play the games.
At Chumba Casino, the minimum number of cleared Sweeps Coins for redemption is 100 SC for a cash prize and 10 SC for a gift card. At LuckyLand, the minimum is 50 SC for a cash prize.
The strategy for winning enough Sweeps Coins to achieve the minimum amount is up to the player. Do you go for the slots with the highest return to player or the biggest win potential? Or do you avoid the slots altogether in favor of blackjack, roulette, and video poker? LuckyLand even has some digital scratch-offs for some instant-win fun.
At the end of the day, your strategy is exactly that: your own. But the goal is the same no matter what games you like to play: win enough Sweeps Coins to get a cash prize.
What Platforms Can I Play Sweepstakes Casinos In Michigan?
Chumba Casino does not offer iOS or Android apps. To play at Chumba, you need to log in through their site on your web browser, which can be done via mobile device or desktop.
Thankfully, Chumba has a mobile-optimized site, so it feels like you’re playing with an app once you log in.
You can also save the site as a shortcut and add it to your home screen so that it mimics the convenience of an app. Here’s how.
LuckyLand Casino offers an Android app but does not have an iOS app. Be sure to download the LuckyLand Android app directly from the LuckyLand website and not from any third-party sources.
How Do You Buy Additional Sweeps Coins?
You can’t directly buy Sweeps Coins. Instead, you can purchase Gold Coin packages that include Sweeps Coins.
For example, for $10 at Chumba Casino, you can buy 2.5 million Gold Coins that include 10 Sweeps Coins. If you play with those 10 Sweeps Coins and end up winning 100 Sweeps Coins, you can redeem for a cash prize.
But you don’t need to purchase Gold Coins. Instead, you can log in on a daily basis to receive free Sweeps Coins and Gold Coins. You can also participate in a Chumba Casino Facebook contest for free Sweeps Coins.
And, although it might feel a bit old-school, you can mail in a request for Sweeps Coins directly to the Chumba Casino or LuckyLand headquarters.
How Does Mailing In A Request Work?
Be sure to follow the precise instructions on the Chumba or LuckyLand website. If they have to spend an extra second trying to read your handwriting, they’ll void the request.
Send them the right sized envelope. Make sure that the mailing address and name matches your account perfectly. Do not mail in an additional request until the most recent is approved and added to your account.
But if you’re playing at Chumba Casino or LuckyLand regularly, it’s worth it to request Sweeps Coins by mail. For the cost of a stamp, you can receive 5 Sweeps Coins or more. You could even have a slot auto-play for you while you write everything out, the ultimate sweepstakes casino multi-tasking.
What Do Sweepstakes Casinos Offer For Banking Methods
Unfortunately, both LuckyLand and Chumba no longer offer PayPal. But they do have a handful of convenient purchasing options that include:
- Debit and Credit Cards
- Direct Bank Transfer
- PayNearMe Cards
- Skrill (an e-wallet similar to PayPal)
Pro-Tip: Don’t upload cash to Skrill using your credit card, it will count as a cash advance. Instead, use a debit card or a direct bank transfer option.
For gift card redemption, you only need to provide your email address. They’ll remove the Sweeps Coins from your account, and you’ll receive the gift card redemption in your inbox. Stores include Amazon, eBay, and Walmart.
For cash prize redemption, you can use direct bank transfer or Skrill.
How Do Sweepstakes Casinos Compare To Michigan’s Online Casinos?
When Michigan online casinos enter the market, adults over 21 located in the state could have access to 26 different options.
Every land-based Michigan casino can launch an online casino. And because platforms already exist in New Jersey, West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, real-money online casinos will launch immediately after regulators give the green light.
Online Casinos Have More Opportunities To Win
That means Chumba Casino and LuckyLand won’t be anywhere close to the best places to win cash prizes. Online casinos will have more games as well as live dealer games, where a real-life dealer at a physical table deals to bettors through a live stream. Sweepstakes sites just can’t compete with that.
The online casino model is also simpler. You deposit money into your account, you use that money to bet on the games, and you can withdraw any amount at any time.
Further, a lot of these brands will offer casino games, sports betting, and online poker, all under one roof. Using the same account and bankroll, you can play one of 20 different blackjack games while waiting for the result of a bet you placed on a college football game.
Online Casinos Have Better Bonuses
The bonuses at online casinos are more lucrative than at sweepstakes casinos.
At Ceasars Online, they’ll double your first deposit up to $300. And that’s not even the highest offer you’ll find, with some online casinos offering bonuses over $1,000 for new members.
You’ll also find more ongoing bonuses in general and earn rewards points as you play that can be redeemed for free money.
But Sweepstakes Casinos Are Free To Play
Even with all those benefits, you won’t receive free credits to win cash prizes at online casinos just by logging in every day. For that reason alone, Chumba and LuckyLand are worth keeping in the rotation for casino gaming, even when online casinos come to Michigan.
When Will Online Gambling Be Available In Michigan?
The timeline for online gambling in Michigan was sped up in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
When Governor Gretchen Whitmer shut down brick-and-mortar casinos in Detroit for 4 months, they were left without revenue streams.
And while the 23 tribal casinos weren’t under the same level of enforcement, they took it upon themselves to shut things down, then greatly reduce occupancy to slow the spread of COVID-19. The end result was hundreds of millions in potential revenue down the drain.
The good news is that the drop in revenue means more pressure to get online gambling moving. It looks like we might see online gambling in Michigan as soon as January 2021.
While all three forms—casinos, sports betting, and poker—were legalized in December 2019, impact reports and public hearings are required before gambling sites and apps are approved for launch. Thankfully, everything will almost certainly be squared away before the Super Bowl.
Why Michigan Casino Players Should Consider Sweepstakes Casinos In The Meantime
Are Chumba And LuckyLand Legal In Michigan?
Yes. Even after Michigan online casinos enter the market, you’ll still be legally allowed to play at Chumba Casino, LuckyLand, and any other sweepstakes site.
The only state where sweepstakes casinos are illegal is the State of Washington. New York and Pennsylvania also limit sweepstakes cash prizes to $5,000. But folks in Michigan don’t share any of these issues.
In Michigan, it is legal for anyone who’s at least 18 years old to join a sweepstakes casino, purchase Gold Coins for Sweeps Coins, and win cash prizes or redeem for gift cards.
However, you are still expected to pay taxes on cash prizes. In Michigan and federally, sweepstakes winnings are treated as regular income.
Will Sweepstakes Casinos Actually Pay Cash Prizes?
Yes. Aside from the highly publicized millionaire winner that Chumba Casino promoted on their social media, people redeem their cleared Sweeps Coins for cash prizes every day.
In fact, Chumba doesn’t always have a 10 SC gift card option, requiring you to win more Sweeps Coins to cash out for a gift card. However, if you’ve won 100 SC or more, they will pay out the winnings. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t have such a good reputation for doing exactly that.
Further, Chumba Casino and LuckyLand have headquarters in the US. If they didn’t live up to their word, that would be considered false advertising, fraudulent, and a bevy of other offenses that could be easily prosecuted (unlike illegal online casinos based in offshore jurisdictions).
Overview Of Sweepstakes Casino Games
The Games At Chumba Casino
Slots
Chumba Casino has a huge selection of slots, with over 60 titles to choose from. The types range in setup and theme, including pop culture references.
Unfortunately, you can’t filter the games by type. For example, some online casinos let you see the slots that offer a certain rule. But you’re not dealing with hundreds of titles, so scrolling through each one doesn’t take too much time.
The biggest benefit for an avid slots player who also plays real-money slots is the fact that Chumba Casino offers exclusive games. Because of their unique sweepstakes model, you can only find many of their options on the Chumba site.
Table Games
Unlike LuckyLand, Chumba Casino also offers a few table games as well as Jacks or Better video poker.
Chumba has two types of roulette, normal American roulette and American roulette x2. For the latter, there’s an additional slots game that can boost your winning potential. It’s important to note, however, that American is the worst form of roulette in terms of house edge. European roulette is better, and French is the best.
Chumba also has 3:2 blackjack that lets you play as little as 1 Sweeps Coin per hand. You can also double down on 9, 10, and 11; the dealer stands on soft 17, and you can hit on split Aces, all of which are favorable rules to the player.
Most Popular Games At Chumba
The Chumba Casino games that are the most popular are progressive jackpot slots. It’s not uncommon for these games to have jackpots over a million Sweeps Coins.
Some of the quintessential titles include:
- Triple Double Fever
- Western Gold
- Stampede Fury
- Dancing Gold
- Reelin n’ Rockin
- Stallion Grand
At the time of writing this guide, all of the above slots had progressives over 200,000 SC.
LuckyLand Sweepstakes Casino Games
Slots
Like Chumba Casino, the slots at LuckyLand are exclusive titles that can’t be found anywhere else. The LuckyLand team also does an awesome job of making knockoff pop culture games like the Snow Queen 3D slot, which looks eerily similar to the Frozen movies.
You’ll find plenty of progressive jackpots at LuckyLand. However, the cash prize potential isn’t as high as Chumba. At the time of writing this article, the largest progressive jackpot was under 100,000 Sweeps Coins.
If you’re a fan of online slots, you should consider playing at both LuckyLand and Chumba Casino. Both sites have a nice selection of games that fit all tastes.
Every time you log in at LuckyLand, you receive at least .33 Sweeps Coins, which is enough for a free spin on some of the games. If you play both sweepstakes casinos in tandem, you have the highest likelihood of turning free Sweeps Coins into cleared Sweeps Coins that can be redeemed for a cash prize.
It’s easy to say that Chumba Casino is the better choice given the cash prize potential and number of games. But there’s no good reason that we can think of not to play both sites for free.
Scratch Cards
While LuckyLand does not have table games, it does house a few digital scratch cards.
Similar to the scratch-offs you’d buy through the Michigan Lottery, you purchase cards of a certain value in the hopes that the hidden symbols trigger a prize.
You can “scratch” each section using a tap or click, or you can have them all scratched instantly.
LuckyLand’s Most Popular Games
Like Chumba Casino, the most popular games at LuckyLand are those that feature a progressive jackpot. These include:
- Money Monsters
- Schnitz-n-Giggles
- Mayan Gold
- Cai Shen Lai
- Dr. Amazing
- Power of Ra
- Lucky Wheel
- Pirates Bounty
- Dragon’s Den
- Treasures of Atlantis
- Fashion Frenzy
LuckyLand also adds new slots all the time, and the new titles become highly popular choices right off the bat.
Common Questions About Playing Sweepstakes Casino In Michigan
Yes. It is legal to play sweepstakes casino games at Chumba Casino from the State of Michigan.
This is separate from the online casinos and the Michigan Gaming Control Board, as sweepstakes casinos aren’t categorized as online gambling. Chumba has been accessible from Michigan since it was founded in 2012.
There are no restrictions on how much your cash prize can be or how many Gold Coins you can purchase for Sweeps Coins.
Yes. You can legally and safely play at LuckyLand from the State of Michigan. It is a trustworthy site that pays out cash prize winnings. You can also securely purchase Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins thanks to LuckyLand’s SSL security protocols.
Because LuckyLand is a sweepstakes site and app, it is not considered an online gambling website. As such, it has been accessible in the state of Michigan since its launch date in 2010.
Yes. You can win cash prizes by playing at the sweepstakes casino sites Chumba Casino and LuckyLand. Both Chumba and LuckyLand have a well-documented history of accepting Sweeps Coins in exchange for cash prizes. You are not playing to “enter a drawing for a cash prize.” Instead, you redeem Sweeps Coins directly for cash prizes at both sites.
We do not recommend other sites, but there may be some worth considering.
18. Unlike Michigan’s online casinos, players 18 and older can legally play at the sweepstakes casino sites and win cash prizes or gift cards, just like anyone else.
Like Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS), sweepstakes sites are not considered gambling in the same way as online betting sites. Therefore, the only requirement is that you’re legally allowed to use a credit card. In the US, that’s 18 and up.
Yes. Michigan does not have a limit on the size of the cash prize won at a sweepstakes casino. Therefore, the progressive jackpots offered at Chumba and LuckyLand are accessible to folks in the state without restriction.
Like a player in Hawaii as recently as April 2019, players in Michigan can score progressive jackpots that can result in million-dollar cash prizes. Some of the progressive jackpots at both Chumba and LuckyLand have the same win potential that Michigan online casinos will have.
No. Live Dealer games are specific to real-money online casinos and are not available at sweepstakes casino sites.
Sweepstakes casinos are fairly limited to slots, which isn’t a Live Dealer game. Chumba has roulette and blackjack, which are Live Dealer games, but neither is offered in Live Dealer form.
Further, because slots are the most popular type of game at sweepstakes sites, there’s no real incentive for them to launch Live Dealer streams.
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