Home / Gold vs Sweeps
The dual-currency model
Every established brand in this category runs two virtual currencies that look similar on screen and do completely different jobs. This page is the one to read carefully.
Gold Coins
Entertainment-only virtual credits. No monetary value, at any quantity, in any circumstance.
- Available in coin packs — for example, 1.5 million Gold Coins for C$19.99.
- Used across slot-style and table-style titles for entertainment.
- Whatever you accumulate remains Gold Coins.
- Not redeemable, not transferable for anything of value.
- A large Gold Coin balance means a long session ahead, and nothing more than that.
Sweeps Coins
Promotional entries. This is the side of the model the sweepstakes rules actually govern.
- Cannot be purchased directly under any circumstances.
- Included as a bonus alongside Gold Coin packs.
- Offered through daily login bonuses and awarded through promotions.
- Available through no-purchase-necessary mail-in requests — the route that keeps the structure valid.
- May become eligible for prize redemption above a minimum threshold, typically C$50–C$100, subject to each brand's official rules.
Why Sweeps Coins can never be sold directly
If promotional entries could be bought on their own, the arrangement would stop being a sweepstakes and start being something the sweepstakes rules do not cover. The legal structure depends on entries being distributed as a promotion — bundled with an unrelated purchase, given away on a schedule, or requested for free in writing — and never sold as the product itself.
That is why every legitimate brand in the category sells Gold Coins and gives Sweeps Coins. When you buy a coin pack you are buying entertainment credits; the promotional entries that arrive with them are a bonus, and identical entries are obtainable without spending anything. This is not a marketing nicety. It is the load-bearing part of the whole model.
A purchase never improves your chance
No purchase is necessary to receive promotional entries, and buying a coin pack does not increase your chance of becoming eligible for prize redemption. Any brand implying otherwise is describing its own model incorrectly.
How the two behave differently in practice
| Gold Coins | Sweeps Coins | |
|---|---|---|
| Can be bought directly | Yes, in coin packs | Never |
| Free routes exist | Yes | Yes — including mail-in requests |
| Monetary value | None | None as currency; entries may become redemption-eligible |
| What accumulation leads to | More entertainment | A chance to reach a redemption threshold |
| Threshold applies | No | Yes — typically C$50–C$100, set by the brand |
| Governed by | The brand's terms | The brand's official sweepstakes rules |
Reading a coin pack honestly
Coin packs are advertised in Gold Coins, because Gold Coins are what is being sold. The promotional entries bundled alongside are usually stated in much smaller type, and they are the part people actually pay attention to. Two packs at the same price can carry very different bundled entry amounts, which is one of the few places in this category where genuine value comparison is possible.
When we look at pack value, we compare the bundled promotional entries against the price of the pack — not the headline Gold Coin figure, which is arbitrary and differs by orders of magnitude between brands.
The threshold is the brand's, not the industry's
A minimum threshold in the C$50–C$100 range is typical across the category, but nothing standardises it. Each brand publishes its own figure in its own official rules, along with its verification requirements and processing timetable. Two brands with the same headline threshold can behave very differently once the conditions attached to it are read.
Play for fun only. No cash prizes.
Promotional entries offer a chance to become eligible for prize redemption. Eligibility is never guaranteed, and outcomes are determined by the rules each brand publishes. Tessera covers entertainment-only sweepstakes and social casino brands. No real money wagering takes place on the brands described here, and nothing on this website offers cash, cash-equivalent credits, or prizes that can be sold or traded for money.