Skillz is popular for its unique collection of mobile exclusive games users have to manually download to play. However, the site has recently entered the social casino space, directly competing with sweepstakes casinos like Stake.us.
With many sites now featuring games like Skillz casino, there’s no better time to consider alternatives to the sweepstakes casino. With competitors like Stake.us and RealPrize featuring more and arguably better games, superior bonuses, and unbeatable customer support, there’s a lot out there to use instead of Skillz. This guide will highlight your best options and how they work.
Top Rated
Up to 125 SC FREE + 625K Golden Coins + 1250 VIP Points
Claim a welcome bonus of 100,000 Gold Coins and 2 Sweeps Coins
350+ unique slots and social casino games
Generous on-going promotions
T&Cs apply, 18+
2.
150% Purchase Offer: 25 SC FREE and 50K GC
Excellent Megaways slots
Superior jackpot games
Acclaimed games developers
T&Cs apply, 18+
3.
35 SC FREE and 1.75M WOW Coins
Over 1,200 slots
Major gaming studios
Lots of Megaways slots
T&Cs apply, 18+
4.
$55 Stake Cash + 260K Gold Coins + 5% Rakeback
Exclusive Stake Originals
Stunning live casino
Over 700 slot games
T&Cs apply, 18+
5.
27.5 SC FREE and 57.5K Gold Coins
Welcome bonus of 7,500 Gold Coins and 2.5 Sweeps Coins
700+ social casino games
Top-rated casino software suppliers
T&Cs apply, 18+
6.
27.5 SC FREE and 57.5K Gold Coins
Over 1,200 slot games
Excellent live casino
Major game studios
T&Cs apply, 18+
7.
Up to 100K Crown Coins + 2 Sweeps Coin
Many themed slots
Major games developers
Play from your browser
T&Cs apply, 18+
8.
33 SC FREE and 90K Gold Coins
Top software providers
No purchase necessary
Huge casino-style gaming lobby
T&Cs apply, 18+
9.
3 SC FREE + 15K Gold Coins
Welcome bonus that includes 15,000 Gold Coins and 3 SC
High-quality slot software
Plenty of on-going promotions for free GC and SC
T&Cs apply, 18+
10.
Get 5 SC FREE+ 250 Gold Coins and 600 Diamonds!
Over 1,900 slot games
Quality live casino
High 5 exclusive slots
T&Cs apply, 18+
11.
Get up to 33 Free SC + 7K Gold Coins
Social casino and sports picking games
Mobile app for iOS devices
1,000 Gold Coins and 3 Sweepstakes Coins available at sign-up
T&Cs apply, 18+
12.
150% Purchase Offer: 25 SC FREE + 2500 Gold Coins
Top software developers
Busy casino-style gaming lobby
No purchase necessary
T&Cs apply, 18+
13.
250,000 Gold Coins + 1000 FREE Sweeps Coins
Slot games
Scratch cards
Signup bonus
T&Cs apply, 18+
14.
27.5 SC FREE and 65K Gold Coins
Slots and live dealer table games
18+ premium software providers
Gold Coins and Sweepstakes Coins
T&Cs apply, 18+
15.
38 SC FREE and 2.6M Gold Coins
Exclusive slot games
Bingo games available
Unique Pet Farm feature
T&Cs apply, 18+
16.
3,600 SC FREE + 1.225 Million Gold Coins
Major games developers
Unique fishing games
100+ themed slots
T&Cs apply, 18+
17.
100% Purchase Bonus, Spend $20 get a 200k GC and 40 SC Bonus
Huge selection of social games
Play for free
New releases
T&Cs apply, 18+
18.
32.5 SC FREE and 1.03M Gold Coins
Welcome bonus: 1,000,000 GC and 2.5 SC
Live dealer games
Top-rated software providers
T&Cs apply, 18+
19.
Get up to 10 SC FREE + 220,000 Gold Coins
Over 500 games
Major games developers
Top jackpot slots
T&Cs apply, 18+
20.
10 SC + 120K Gold Coins
700+ casino games
Unique fishing games
Major games developers
T&Cs apply, 18+
Skillz seeks to better the gaming world by creating the world’s best competition system, and it’s going about it in a way that offers several benefits. Here are some of my favorite things Skillz has implemented properly to make it a competitive gaming platform:
What Skillz lacks in no-purchase welcome bonuses, it makes up for through its one-of-a-kind VIP program which I discussed extensively in my Skillz Games review. The program is simple: enter by accumulating 800,000 Ticketz in one month, maintain the minimum threshold to keep your place, and enjoy exclusive benefits for being part of the program.
While getting 800,000 Ticketz is no mean feat on Skillz, the transparency is commendable, as you know exactly when you’ve played enough to deserve a place on the VIP program and your progress level if you haven’t qualified.
📱 Mobile Apps for Android and iOS
Skillz doesn’t just let you play through mobile apps, you need mobile apps to play on the sweepstakes casino. Interestingly, its approach to mobile apps is slightly different than I’ve come to expect. While most competitors with games like Skillz offer a single app and allow you to play all their games through that app, Skillz’s approach is slightly different, requiring you to download a new app for each new game you play.
This rule has some exceptions: the site’s social casino slots section doesn’t require downloads for desktop users, for example. However, you’ll need new apps for every new popular Skillz-exclusive mobile game you want to play. Thankfully, there’s a parent Skillz app featuring all available mobile games which acts as a storefront, allowing you to access new games easily.
Skillz offers a multi-channel customer service system, allowing you to reach the social casino’s customer support representatives through email and live chat. As you’d expect, the live chat is quick and responsive, while the email-based support is helpful but can be slightly slower. The social casino also features a robust FAQ section on its website and app, allowing you to find answers to your queries without contacting a human representative.
Skillz has improved significantly on games over the past few months, as the site now offers a dedicated social casino games section with slots, table games, and dice, a crucial piece previously missing from the sweepstakes casino. It’s still not in the leagues of more capable alternatives like High 5 Casino with over 1,500 Vegas-style casino games but gone are the days when playing at Skillz quickly gets boring due to the lack of variety in games.
Skillz is far from being the perfect social casino for everyone, no thanks to a couple of drawbacks I noticed while playing on the sweepstakes casino. Here are some of the most glaring drawbacks of playing at Skillz from my experience:
When I signed up on Skillz for the first time, I got 2,500 Z Coins to try any game on the site for free, which isn’t the worst I’ve seen from a sweepstakes casino. However, I didn’t get any bonuses in Skillz Ticketz, the virtual currency that qualifies you for the site’s sweepstakes.
When you look at the welcome bonuses from other social casinos with games like Skillz, you’ll notice a healthy balance of Gold Coins and Sweepstakes Coins (or their equivalents). Stake.us, for example, offers $55 Stake Cash + 260K Gold Coins + 5% Rakeback when you sign up with promo code DEADSPIN, allowing sweepstakes access with its Stake Cash bonus.
In its bid to create the best competition system, Skillz uses an in-house algorithm to match players on many of its exclusive games, leading to widespread complaints about the system’s fairness. Since the social casino offers plenty of skills-based games, the matching system allegedly favors more experienced players, making it nearly impossible for newer players to win games.
Nobody knows how the matching system works, so it’s impossible to prove if there’s any inherent unfairness, but the widespread criticism by existing players is hard to overlook in a Skillz Games review.
Skillz’s flaws don’t make the social casino unusable, but there’s no harm in seeking alternatives with an overall better package than the site has to offer. From my research, here are the best sweepstakes casinos with similar games to Skillz for a fresh gaming experience:
Stake.us: Pros & Cons
Stake.us doesn’t offer the same mobile-exclusive games as Skillz, but it improves the social casino offerings you’ll find on the latter. Like Skillz, Stake.us has some in-house “Originals,” but you can play them all on the web: no app downloads or installs are necessary. When you sign up for this sweepstakes casino with promo code DEADSPIN, you get a welcome bonus package of $55 Stake Cash + 260K Gold Coins + 5% Rakeback, usable on any Stake.us game.
Speaking of games, Stake.us has them in abundance: slots, table games, dice, bingo games, live casino games, you name it. Unlike Skillz, most Stake.us games are from third-party social casino game providers like Pragmatic Play and Evoplay, making the experience significantly more diverse than you get on Skillz. During my review, I played Sweet Bonanza and Wanted Dead or a Wild, and the experience was great.
You don’t get mobile apps to play games on Stake.us since they all work on the web, regardless of the device type. Stake.us’s mobile website experience rivals that of competitors with dedicated mobile apps, making Stake.us one of the best alternatives to Skillz, despite lacking apps for Android and iOS.
Real Prize: Pros & Cons
RealPrize is another great site with similar games to Skillz, featuring titles like Wild Moon Thieves and Big Bass Bonanza, both of which I played on Skillz’s social casino games section before replaying them on RealPrize. RealPrize’s games library is much more than slots—I also found a decent selection of table games, live casino games, and instant win bingo and scratch games.
The social casino’s 100,000 Gold Coins + 2 Sweepstakes Coins welcome bonus offers free coins to try the games without an initial purchase. Moreover, I got daily login bonuses of Gold Coins and Sweepstakes Coins for every new day I played on RealPrize, making it one of the best free Sweeps Cash casinos.
Like Stake.us, RealPrize has no mobile apps yet, but all games work excellently well on the desktop and mobile versions of its website. Customer support is a bit unimpressive, however, as I didn’t get an option for live chat support; I had to either dig through the gigantic list of resources on the FAQ section or open a support ticket to find help, both of which are helpful, but not as quick as having access to a live chat.
High 5 Casino: Pros & Cons
High 5 Casino’s claim of offering more games than any other social casino may be debatable, but there’s no dispute about the site having more games than Skillz. With over 1,500 slots and table games available to all new and existing users, High 5 Casino has truly gained bragging rights with its one-of-a-kind games catalog.
The available games aren’t the social casino’s only selling point, as new users also get 250 Game Coins, 5 Sweeps Coins, and 600 Diamonds for free to play the numerous games on the site. After claiming mine, I played a few rounds of Valley of Fortunes to appreciate the excellence of High 5 Casino exclusives before playing a bit of Fire Stampede, one of the best new sweepstakes casino games from Pragmatic Play.
Like Skillz, you get native Android and iOS apps to play High 5 Casino games, but you don’t need a new app for each game. Once you download the High 5 Casino app, you can play any of the sweepstakes casino’s 1,500+ games using your Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins from your phone, without any extra downloads or installs: how cool is that?
| Operator | Welcome bonus | Promo code |
|---|---|---|
| Stake.us | $55 Stake Cash + 260K Gold Coins + 5% Rakeback | DEADSPIN |
| RealPrize | 100,000 Gold Coins + 2 Sweepstakes Coins | N/A |
| High 5 Casino | 250 Game Coins, 5 Sweeps Coins, and 600 Diamonds | N/A |
While Skillz mobile exclusives are still exclusive to the site, there are alternative and better ways to play the games on the social casino section. For example, you can use sweepstakes casinos with similar games to Skillz, like Stake.us and High 5 Casino. Simply sign up on any of the recommended sites, claim the generous welcome bonuses, and start playing games like you’ll find on Skillz’s social casino without an initial purchase.
Yes, sites like Skillz operate using the sweepstakes model, allowing them to offer social casino games you can play using virtual coins like Gold Coins and Sweepstakes Coins. The games are usually playable without an initial purchase, but you can also purchase Gold Coin bundles for more coins to play your favorite games.
Yes, all new users get 2,500 free Z Coins to play any Skillz exclusive mobile game or social casino game without an initial purchase. However, you’ll likely get better bonuses on Skillz alternatives like Stake.us that offers $55 Stake Cash + 260K Gold Coins + 5% Rakeback when you sign up with promo code DEADSPIN.
No, Skillz operates the sweepstakes casino model and therefore can’t offer real money games or pay real money. However, you can get free Ticketz from various bonuses on Skillz, play sweepstakes games using the virtual currency, and redeem your Ticketz for real prizes when you accumulate enough and meet applicable playthrough requirements.
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.
