SPGA Statement on Latest Social Sweepstakes Research from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming

Social casino games are an entertaining, interactive, and social experience enjoyed by millions of American adults alongside other popular casual mobile games like Clash of Clans and Candy Crush.

A survey of social sweepstakes users by independent research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming reinforces this fact. When asked to describe their motivations in their own words, social sweeps players cited general entertainment value and excitement/thrill more frequently than winning real money. Players also mentioned the social interaction aspect as a key reason for engaging in these games, further emphasizing that monetary incentives are not a primary driver of play at social sweeps sites.

That’s not surprising, as the majority of players at social sweeps sites never spend money, and no purchase is necessary to enjoy social sweeps games. The minority of players who make purchases do so primarily to enhance their experience, and a typical purchase is less than $10.

The latest EKG research on player motivations corroborates the firm’s findings in December 2024 – backed up by analysts at Macquarie – that social casinos with sweepstakes prizing are not directly competitive with traditional real-money online casinos.

EKG’s December report showed that Michigan’s online casino market underperformed other states after social sweepstakes operators left Michigan, demonstrating the lack of overlap between social sweeps players and real-money online casino players.

𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦: 𝘌𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴 & 𝘒𝘳𝘦𝘫𝘤𝘪𝘬 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳 4𝘘24, 𝘍𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 2025