
You can't find new online casinos in Australia, but sweepstakes casinos are available and make for a good alternative. The best example of this is Roo Vegas, which we’ll cover here.
We’ll explain the status of online casinos in Australia, and look at the differences that make new sweepstakes casinos available for Aussie players aged 21 and over. You can also find out which casino-style games you might be able to play, and learn why you’ll use free virtual currencies to play those titles.
Since online casinos are not available here, you might be surprised to find that you can play at online sweepstakes casinos if you live in one of Australia’s six states. That’s because sweepstakes use an entirely different format to real money casinos, and thus cannot be compared to them in any way.
In this guide, we’ll take you through how they work, so you can understand why - and how - you might be able to play casino-style games at an Australian sweepstakes casino. If you’re looking at various online sweepstakes casinos in Australia, this option might prove to be one that’s worth exploring further.
Since online casinos aren’t available in Australia, it’s worth understanding how new sweepstakes casinos differ from those options. We’ll make it clear here - sweepstakes casinos do not allow real money gaming, nor can you make any deposits or withdrawals at a site offering the sweepstakes format.
This means that you can play for free, using two virtual currencies we’ll explain more about below. You’ll often see these virtual currencies labelled as Gold Coins (GCs) and Sweeps Coins (SCs), but some sites use alternative names as you’ll see later, so watch out for those as well. We’ll explain more here.
If you use Gold Coins at a sweepstakes casino, you’ll be playing in a casual or fun mode. Even if you play a slot and turn up a matching set of symbols on the reels, you will only receive more Gold Coins in return for your matching icons. You’re then able to continue your casual play using more Gold Coins. That’s it.
You’re often able to buy Gold Coins at sweeps casinos, but doing so is always optional. This means they’re ideal if you enjoy the mechanics and themes involved in the average slot or pokie, but you’re not keen on parting with any cash when doing so.
In short, Gold Coins give you the entertainment and appeal you’re looking for - and you’ll be able to enjoy those for free, too. You’ll enjoy the best bits of gaming, no matter which titles you want to try.
Here’s where things get interesting. If you use Sweeps Coins to play the titles at a sweepstakes casino, you’ll receive more SCs in winnings from a slot or similar casino-style game if you land a winning combo.
You’re able to redeem Sweeps Coins that you’ve won from sweepstakes gameplay to receive a real prize. You’ll still need to meet the threshold for doing so though. This can vary from site to site. We’ll explain more about SC prize redemptions shortly, but you’ll be able to find this option at any online sweepstakes casino, even mobile online sweeps casinos.
Finally, you can’t swap one virtual currency for the other. So, if you manage to win plenty of Gold Coins, you can’t exchange any of those to get more Sweeps Coins. You’ll always use each virtual currency for the type of gaming it was intended for.
If this is true, you should still be able to tell which virtual currency to use for casual gaming and which one to use to go through to the sweepstakes aspect of the site.
You can see that sweepstakes casinos provide Australian residents with a viable alternative, since you can’t play at real money online casinos in the country. We’ve noticed several questions keep cropping up on the topic, so we’ll answer those for you now.
Yes - you’re not required to purchase any Gold Coins if you take part at a sweepstakes casino. You may find you can purchase a GC bundle if you wish, but it’s entirely optional. Remember that you’ll use GCs only for entertainment - they can’t be redeemed for prizes.
Yes, but you cannot do so straight through gameplay. That’s a big difference to note. We’ve seen how you can use Gold Coins or Sweeps Coins to play with. Remember that whichever virtual currency you use to play the casino-style games, that’s the one you’ll get in return if you play something and hit some matching icons - for example, three matching icons on the reels of a slot.
So, if you play with Sweeps Coins and receive some from gaming, you can redeem those to receive a cash prize. You just need to play with your SCs at least once to qualify for this, and to make sure you receive enough from gaming to meet the minimum SC redemption requirement.
You will usually find a minimum age requirement of 21 years or over. However, you should read the on-site terms and conditions to confirm this at individual sites. You can also often see the required minimum inside a circle near the bottom of the website in question.
This depends on the individual sweepstakes casino, and on which redemption method you decide to go with. For example, some sites offer gift cards, while others stick to SC redemptions for cash prizes.
So, if you’d like to find the fastest payout online sweepstakes casinos in Australia, you need to check what’s available. We’ve found that e-wallets tend to process cash prizes faster than if you opted to redeem your Sweeps Coin winnings to a card method, for example. We’ve found they’re typically a day or two faster. Gift cards are the fastest, but you can’t always use them.
Do note, however, that sweeps casinos don't actually offer "payouts". As stated, you can't deposit or withdraw on these sites. So while some players call SC prize redemptions a "payout", they're not the same thing.
Yes, you’ll usually verify your email address when you sign up, but you’ll also need to provide suitable documents to confirm your age and residential address.
A passport or driver’s licence usually works for the photo ID submission, but this should be valid and not expired. You can usually resort to a recent utility bill or bank statement to prove your address, but it should be dated within the last three months to qualify.
While you aren’t always required to prove your identity when you create your account, you’ll always need to provide these documents before you can redeem any SC winnings to receive a real prize.
As we’ve covered, there are no legal online casinos in Australia. However, you will find sweepstakes casinos available. Here’s our top pick for Australian players:
If you join Roo Vegas, you will receive 500,000 Roo Coins (those work the same as Gold Coins). You will also receive 10 Spin Coins in place of the usual Sweeps Coins. If you play with Spin Coins and win, you will receive Spin Cash in return. You’re then able to redeem Spin Cash for a real cash prize, by adhering to their terms and conditions for doing so. You can only get Spin Cash from gameplay.
And you’ve got plenty of casino-style games to play at Roo Vegas, too. Most fall into the various slot-based categories, giving you Hold & Win titles, classic slots, and some candy-themed titles as well. You can also find some Roo Live titles to play that offer a real dealer experience. We found Gravity Blackjack, Top Card, and Royal Roulette among the possibilities there.
Now that we’ve covered how sweepstakes casinos work, let’s see which features you should look for when deciding where to play. You can use this as a checklist to tick off whenever you find a new option to try.
We’ve had plenty of experience in finding and testing a range of sweepstakes casinos in the past. We’ve noticed that occasionally, we’ll find a site with just one or two developers, whereas others carry casino-style games from a dozen or more brands.
We’re of the opinion that the more is merrier here. You’ll be able to enjoy plenty more titles from a sweepstakes casino with links to plenty of software developers. You’re also likely to get the chance to play many more famous pokies than you otherwise would.
Here are a few providers we spotted when reviewing Roo Vegas, along with an example pokie from each provider:
As you’ll now understand, sweepstakes bonuses provide you with Gold Coins and usually one or two Sweeps Coins as well. A good example is the Roo Vegas bonus, which gives every new player 500k Roo Coins and 10 Spin Coins to use on the social and sweepstakes titles, respectively.
Other sweepstakes casino bonuses may involve a daily login bonus, a chance to get more Sweeps Coins via a mailed request, and potentially even some virtual currencies in giveaways shared on the official social media pages for these sweepstakes casinos.
You might find a separate document covering these; alternatively, you might see relevant details in the main set of terms and conditions for the website. Either way, you should be able to read them before you think of creating an account.
Some sweepstakes casinos have over 1,000 titles to choose from, so it’s ideal to have a way to search through them without scrolling through tons of titles.
Ideally, you should be able to use a search box, where you can enter a title to see if it’s available. Alternatively, you can just enter one word to see what you can find.
At the very least, we’d check whether the sweepstakes casino includes different categories to browse before play. Here are some examples to explain what we mean:
You can expect to find plenty of slots and similar casino-style games from a variety of top providers at sweepstakes casinos. You can decide whether to play them using the Gold Coins or Sweeps Coins. Here are some examples of the main options you can look for.
You’ll always find plenty of slots to enjoy at a sweepstakes casino. We’ve found sites that offer these and nothing else, but you’ll often find other types of titles to play too. Here are some different types of slots you might come across.
| Slot Type | Key Feature | More Info |
| Classic slots | Basic three-reel format | Usually based on fruits, gems, and other classic icons |
| Video slots | Advanced five-reel format; some may have six reels | Based on many themes, including ancient Egypt, mythical topics, space, and candy |
| Progressive | Jackpots that rise during play; sweepstakes progressives can involve GCs or SCs, respectively | Themed or basic in nature, depending on the slot |
| Multiline slots | 10, 20, 25, or more lines per play | Can be themed or offer more basic features |
| Megaways slots | Offer up to 117,649 ways per play; this relies on a six-reel format | Megaways depend on how many icons land on each reel |
Think of roulette, blackjack, baccarat, and perhaps even some poker. Those are the most common titles you will find at sweepstakes casinos if you spot a separate area covering table games. You might occasionally see some other titles based on cards too, or a bigger mix of roulette or blackjack variants.
These provide live dealers managing what’s happening on the tables. They’re ideal if you’ve never played such titles before, especially since you can do so using Gold Coins, which you cannot redeem for anything else anyway.
It’s an enjoyable way to see what a live table game is like, without risking SC doing so. You’ll also get used to the immediacy of live dealer titles, with no risk if you’re using Gold Coins for casual play.
While Australians won’t find online casinos available in the country, it’s good to see that you can use sweepstakes casinos there. Indeed, we expect to find more such sites available in the near future. To that end, we’ve noted some of the high and low points you can expect from any new site you see in the country.
Australians can enjoy the prospect of playing at a sweepstakes casino such as Roo Vegas. If this is the first time you’ve heard about this sweepstakes casino, you can see it for yourself by using the links we’ve provided you with in this guide. You’ll find titles from top developers there when you arrive.
Sweepstakes casinos offer players a great opportunity to try a variety of pokies and occasionally even other casino-style games too. You’ve also got the chance to play using Sweeps Coins and to see if you can win enough SCs to redeem them later for a real prize.
No, you can not. However, you can play at sweepstakes casinos online in Australia. They provide lots of casino-style games including pokies and table games, which you can play using either Gold Coins for entertainment or Sweeps Coins for the sweepstakes element.
They do not allow players to deposit funds to play real money games. Instead, players can play for free using Gold Coins or similar, along with using a separate virtual currency - usually Sweeps Coins - to play sweepstakes titles. SC winnings are redeemable for real prizes once the relevant requirements are met.
Roo Vegas is our pick - it’s a sweepstakes casino offering 500,000 Roo Coins to play social titles with, along with 10 Spin Coins to access the sweepstakes gaming format.