Quick verdict: How legit is Scarlet Sands?
Let’s touch base as I go through my Scarlet Sands review, explaining all you need to know about this sweepstakes casino. You’ll collect 250,000 Gold Coins when you join, ready to try some of their social casino games.
You can get another 100,000 Gold Coins for verifying your email address, plus one Sweeps Coin. When you step up to bat, you’ll be able to choose from hundreds of titles to play, and join the first level of their Royal Club VIP program. There’s no app, but I’ve got details about all other aspects of their website here.
Scarlet Sands stands out as a slots-focused sweepstakes casino with a generous two-part welcome bonus - 250,000 Gold Coins just for signing up, plus another 100,000 GCs and one Sweeps Coin for verifying your email.
While it doesn’t offer table games or an app, it makes up for it with hundreds of slots from both well-known and niche providers, a structured eight-tier VIP program, and daily rewards like the Scarlet Wheel and Daily Blaze.
Navigation can feel a bit clunky, and the Sweeps Coin bonuses are modest, but overall, Scarlet Sands delivers a solid social gaming experience for slot fans.
Details of the Scarlet Sands welcome bonus
You only need an email address and password to sign up with for starters. When I created my account, I received 250,000 Gold Coins. This meant I could look around the site to see what it had to offer. I took the time to verify my email address next - a step that brought me another 100,000 Gold Coins plus my first Sweeps Coin. I'll walk you through how to use those in a second.
You shouldn’t need a Scarlet Sands promo code to get this offer, but I did notice they had room to add one when joining. For that reason, I’d suggest checking the banners here just in case I find something I can share with you at this stage in the game. Note that you can sign up from 37 US states; they’ve listed 13 prohibited states in their terms and conditions, including Idaho, Washington, Nevada, and Michigan. You can’t use a VPN to get around these limitations, so hopefully you won’t find your home state listed there.
You’ll also get your first spin of the Scarlet Wheel when you access your account. I picked up 50,000 Gold Coins on my first spin. The timer then reset to show 12 hours remaining until my next available spin. The wheel can change depending on which VIP level you reach. I’ll cover that in more detail later. It’s worth spending some time learning the ropes as they also offer The Daily Blaze. This doesn’t ask for a promo code, but it does ask that you complete your profile to get it underway. On day one, you’ll get 2,500 Gold Coins and 0.20 Sweeps Coins. This gets progressively better each day if you keep the streak going.
| Vertical | Bonus | Min. Purchase | Can be redeemed | Bonus Code | Claim Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Casino | 100% on First Purchase: 900K GC and 60 SC FREE! | - | Yes! | not required | |
| Social Casino | Up to 350,000 Gold Coins and 1 SC FREE! | - | Yes! | not required | |
| Social Casino | Spin the Wheel Every 12h: Get Up to 10 SC FREE! | - | Yes! | not required |
Let’s touch base with my proper Scarlet Sands review
Detail is everything, as you might have seen in the Moonspin.us review here. Can you trust Scarlet Sands? Come with me as I lay down a marker and let you know what to expect. I spent a few hours exploring, playing social games, and seeing how it all worked, so I’ll share my findings with you here.
Sign up today and claim your welcome offer
Explore the Scarlet Sands promo offers
Get to grips with Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins
I’ve already mentioned Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins, but let’s get a few more details here to clarify how they work. It’s vital that you understand the differences between them.
| Gold Coins (also known as GCs) | Sweeps Coins (also known as SCs) |
| Playable on social casino games | Playable on sweepstakes games |
| You can purchase more GCs, but there’s no requirement to do so | You can’t purchase Sweeps Coins |
| You cannot redeem Gold Coin winnings at any point | You can redeem Sweeps Coins winnings, subject to 1x playthrough and minimum of 100 Sweeps Coins to redeem |
You can stick to the social aspect of the site just by using Gold Coins. You’ve got ways to get more of those each day, so you won’t run out. Securing some Sweeps Coins is tougher, since you only get one for verifying your email account. I’ve had two or three SCs from a few other competing sites, so it would be nice if they bumped that up a bit.
After that opening gambit, the Daily Blaze only releases part of a Sweeps Coin each day. I prefer Scarlet Sands in a social sense, but you might want to go all out and grab as many Sweeps Coins as you can get. Perhaps the most important point here is that you can’t exchange any Gold Coins to get a Sweeps Coin or two - the two always remain separate.
What’s it like to use Scarlet Sands?
So, my first impression was that this is a busy sweepstakes casino. If you’ve never tried sweepstakes play before, Scarlet Sands could feel a little overwhelming to start with. It’s easier to sign up to, as you don’t need to complete your profile details until you're on the inside and ready to step up to bat and play. Note that whenever you click or tap on the Scarlet Sands name, you’ll go into the main lobby, which is handy to know as I discovered that by accident. You can also access it from All Games in the menu, but that seems to take a lot longer to load. I’ll provide more details about those and the social game types in the next section.
Whenever you want to move around the site, head for the menu, displayed to the left side of the site if you’re on a computer. You can minimize this if you want to - you then get logos you can click on, although it’s not always obvious what those logos are, as they’re in gray and black and a little on the small side. Maximize the menu and you can more easily find the new titles, your favorites, and the top titles of the month, so I think it’s worth taking that extra step.
Giving social gaming your best shot
I’m never sure whether I’ll find social gaming categories at any sweepstakes casino, but I found plenty at this site when I was compiling my Scarlet Sands review - almost too many, as I had to swipe sideways with my cursor to see them all, even on a decent-sized computer screen. I found jackpot titles, bonus options, cascading features, and hot titles among the many available options. Despite the array of categories, though, I didn’t find anything other than slots.
They do have a search field, so I typed in some options including roulette and blackjack, but it returned zero results, so it is all about slots there. Some sweepstakes casinos drop the ball with a limited range of providers, but I found plenty to look through at Scarlet Sands. Hit the yellow star in the menu and you can load them all, including some titles from each. If you then select the option to see more, you should be able to load all the available social games from one provider. I say ‘should’ because it seemed slow to load when I tried it.
I did find some familiar brands, including Betsoft and BGaming, but there were plenty of brands I hadn’t heard of too. This could be a positive or negative point depending on how you view it. Certainly, while you could look at Betsoft titles as a home run, since they’re famous providers of 3D slots, you may not have heard of brands like N2 and Penguin King. I spotted Candyland Jackpots and Turbo Diamonds among the Penguin King options I could try. Meanwhile, you might recognize some Betsoft titles, such as Coins of Alkemor: Extreme Magic, one of a series featuring a wizard called Alkemor that’s worth checking out.
You’ll be part of the Royal Club
You might guess this is their VIP club. You’ll kick off at the Silver Crown level, and you’ll need to get 500 XP points from playing the social games to reach the next level. You can always keep track of how many points you need to achieve a new level by checking near the top of your menu column. Once you reach a new level, you’ll receive any perks associated with it. Scarlet Sands offers upgrade rewards, Weekly Coinsback, and other perks as you progress through various levels. I spotted seven other levels to aim for:
- Gold
- Crystal
- Flame
- Noble
- Glory
- Radiant
- Imperial
You’d have to get all the way to the Imperial level - the top level - to get access to a personal VIP manager. Meanwhile, there are three bonus wheels to spin, with the Scarlet Wheel beginning at the Silver level. This improves to the Elite Wheel from Crystal level onwards, upgrading to the ultimate Legendary Wheel once you get to the Glory level. As you might guess, bigger wheels provide the chance of getting better rewards as you spin them.
Unfortunately, you only maintain your level for two months. If you fail to go up a level during that time, you’ll end up dropping back where you were previously. Depending on how you play, it could mean you end up going up and down if you don’t have time to devote to playing there.
You won’t find an app to download
Depending on your point of view, Scarlet Sands might have dropped the ball here. I did access the site on my smartphone and tablet without issue, although the screen size can be problematic on a smartphone. The sweepstakes casino works fine though, loading well enough and performing well on a computer too if you’d rather use a mouse than swipe your fingers or stylus across a touchscreen. I’d just recommend being extra careful if you’re entering a promo code on your smartphone - it’s easy to go wrong on a small screen, as I have in the past when using a Moonspin.us promo code over there.
Explore the Scarlet Sands game library
Use your bonus coins to play for free at Scarlet Sands
Is Scarlet Sands legit? Understanding licensing requirements
There’s no license on their website, but this doesn’t come out of left field for a sweepstakes casino. It doesn’t need a license according to current regulations. You’ll find an About column near the bottom of their site, which tells you more about how it works. You’re not required to purchase any Gold Coins to play there. You also need to be at least 18 years old, unless you’re in a state that has a higher limit. As noted earlier, it’s currently available in 37 states. Scarlet Sands is owned and run by UTech Solutions LLC, based in Wyoming, USA.
Upon closer inspection, I noted that I could make secure optional Gold Coin purchases if I wanted to, while the site offered explanations of Gold Coin gameplay and Sweeps Coin play. I found several mentions of online support, but no sign of any responsible play options until I created an account. Once I’d done that, I eventually found some options in my account section. I could then set self-exclusion options, optional Gold Coin purchase limits, and so on.
Speaking of online support, let’s get to that part of my Scarlet Sands review
If you’re going to compare this review to the Jumbo88 review, don’t skip over this section. Overall, Scarlet Sands has hit most of the key notes here, with a page titled How it Works telling you just that. If you’ve never visited a sweepstakes casino before, that ought to be your starting point. It’s quite basic but it does give you a sense of how different the format is compared to a real money casino.
But what about support? Can you get hold of someone to talk to if you need to or will it be crickets? A lack of support always feels like a sticky wicket to me, so let’s see how Scarlet Sands fares. Obviously, you've got the general terms of use to read, and they also provide an Alternative Method of Entry page explaining how you can pick up some free Sweeps Coins via the mail. Other than that, there’s no sign of a help center anywhere for me to share in my Scarlet Sands review.
I did find a section titled Need Help at the bottom of their website, which gave me two options to choose from:
- I could send an email to their support email address.
- I could request online support.
I also noticed a support link in the main menu, so there are several ways to get there. Unfortunately, when I tried accessing it, nothing happened. It could be an issue with my end or their end, but having tried it a few times I was unable to access it. I was logged in too, so it’s not a case of only being available for logged-in players and out of bounds to non-members. I’ll provide an update if I get anywhere there.
How do the Scarlet Sands ratings stack up for payment information?
I was expecting to find various Gold Coin packages available for optional purchase, and found those on the other side of the BUY button at the top of the website. Having selected an option, I was presented with the chance to add a payment card to my account to complete my optional GC purchase. The popup screen then gave me Mastercard and Visa as options. There didn’t appear to be any other e-wallets or similar methods available as alternatives, so I can’t add those to my Scarlet Sands review.
As for Sweeps Coin redemption options, it looks like you can redeem Sweeps Coins winnings via the same card you use for Gold Coin purchases you might decide to make. Obviously, if you haven’t made any, you can enter your details when you reach the Sweeps Coin redemption stage. It seems you can also opt to go via ACH. Remember that you’ll need to complete 1x playthrough, and you can only redeem Sweeps Coins winnings of 100 SC or more. You can’t redeem any SCs you’ve collected in any other manner.
| Payment Method | Minimum Deposit | Maximum Withdrawal | Processing Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa | - | N/A | N/A |
| Mastercard | - | N/A | N/A |
| Apple Pay | - | N/A | N/A |
Is Scarlet Sands in the ballpark of reliable sweepstakes casinos?
Hopefully, I’ve covered everything you’d want to know about the site in this Scarlet Sands review. It’s a busy website, with plenty of social games from various sources, although it’s a little thin on the ground in terms of big brands, other than Betsoft, BGaming, and Booming Games. There’s nothing to play other than slots either, so depending on your preferences they might have knocked it out of the park or simply dropped the ball on that one. You can get 250,000 Gold Coins just for joining, adding another 100,000 GCs onto that for verifying your email address - plus a Sweeps Coin for good measure. Check out Scarlet Sands for yourself by following one of the links I’ve provided throughout this page - nothing beats a first-hand look when you want to know more.
Scarlet Sands review FAQs
Is Scarlet Sands Casino a legitimate site?
Yes, this is a sweepstakes casino, so rather than playing using cash, you can use Gold Coins to play social games or switch to Sweeps Coins to access their sweepstakes mode of play. The site is run by UTech Solutions LLC.
Do I need a Scarlet Sands promo code to join with?
No, the standard welcome bonus does not require you to use a code. However, there is space to add one when you complete the signup form, so you may want to check ahead and see if there are any special codes here you can use.
Is it worth reading some Scarlet Sands reviews?
Yes, you’ll be able to find out how it works as a sweepstakes casino, what sort of welcome bonus you’ll get, and how many social games you can play there, among other things.
Can I collect a Scarlet Sands Casino no deposit bonus?
You can only get no deposit bonuses at standard casinos - not at sweepstakes casinos. You can still collect 250,000 Gold Coins for signing up at the Scarlet Sands sweepstakes casino though, plus another 100,000 Gold Coins and one Sweeps Coin when you verify the email address you signed up with.
Can I redeem my Gold Coins for prizes at Scarlet Sands?
No - Gold Coins have no value and cannot be redeemed for a real prize. You can use them to play any social games you fancy, though.
