Golden Hearts Games is a sweepstakes casino with a charitable twist. Like other sweepstakes casinos, Golden Hearts allows you to purchase coins, which you use to play online casino games and win cash. However, purchases at Golden Hearts are called “Donations,” because a portion of purchases goes to Givinga Foundation, which allocates funds to users’ selected charities.
Overall, Golden Hearts Games is an OK social sweepstakes casino with some great advantages. However, we don’t recommend it over many others because it has an extremely limited game library. Plus, we find the “Donation” aspect to be slightly misleading.
Our recommended top social and sweepstakes casinos
of Gold Coins for $10
Read on for everything you need to know about Golden Hearts Games, including information about its no-purchase bonus welcome promo. When you first sign up for Golden Hearts Games, you’ll get 1,000 Unplayed Coins if you enter the promo code Welcome2023.
What are Unplayed Coins?
The name certainly isn’t extravagant, but it accurately describes the currency at Golden Hearts Games. Unplayed Coins are coins you haven’t played with yet. These cannot be redeemed for money. You can use them to play slots or join bingo games. In other words, there is only one thing you can do with Unplayed Coins: play with them.
Unplayed Coins become Redeemable Coins when you play with them at least once.
How to get more Unplayed Coins
One thing to note: you do not need to make a donation to play at Golden Heart Games. You can get Unplayed Coins for free and play with them. The amount you’ll get is relatively limited, but a purchase is not necessary.
Golden Hearts Games offers a few ways to get free Unplayed Coins:
- Creating your account and using the Golden Hearts Games promo code Welcome2023
- Spinning the Daily Bonus wheel
- Referring a friend who makes at least one donation
- Participating in promotions
- Mail-in request
You can also complete certain tasks at Golden Hearts partner sites through the RevU program. Select “Earn Coins” under the “More Ways To Get Coins” header on the My Account page to open this option. Possible tasks available, when we checked, were:
- Sign up for Paramount+ and try the trial: 675 Coins
- Make your first wager with DraftKings Sportsbook: 53,427 Coins
- Sign up for Kudos: 787 Coins
- Reach Level 10 in Harvest Land: 1,125 Coins
There were many other options as well. You can use these methods to earn Unplayed Coins without making a donation. But note that many of them require some sort of deposit or money to get the coins anyway.
Mail-in request for coins
To receive coins for free, you can participate in what Golden Hearts calls an “Alternative Method of Entry.” It’s really just a mail-in request. Here’s how you can do it.
First, handwrite the following details on a 3×5-inch card:
- First and last name
- Email address (the one associated with your account)
- Phone number
- Complete mailing address including zip code
Next, place the card and a handwritten self-addressed return envelope with postage inside another envelope (yes, you need two envelopes). The second envelope must be stamped and addressed to:
- Golden Hearts Games INC.
- Attn: AMOE Submission
- O. Box 20805
- Worcester, MA 01602
Golden Hearts will then mail you a 12-digit redemption code for 5,000 coins.
You can only mail one card at a time this way, and you can get one redemption code per day maximum. This mail-in option, though intensive in its requirements, is a good sign. It indicates that Golden Hearts Games is a legitimate sweepstakes casino.
What are Redeemable Coins?
Golden Hearts sticks to its naming conventions and keeps things simple. Redeemable Coins are, unsurprisingly, coins that can be redeemed.
You only receive Redeemable Coins as part of prizes when you’re playing promotional games or by playing with Unplayed Coins and winning.
For example, we started with 1,000 Unplayable Coins while testing Golden Hearts for this review. We played a few games (more on those later) for 10 minutes each. By the time we were done, our account had 305 coins, but they were all Redeemable … in theory.
We say “in theory” because the minimum redemption amount is 5,000.
How to get more Redeemable Coins
This one’s simple. You get more Redeemable Coins by playing games at Golden Hearts. As you play, anything you win with Unplayed Coins will become Redeemable Coins.
This is slightly different from the currency functionality at other social casinos, like Chumba or WOW Vegas. At those sites, you get the premium currency either as a free bonus when you make a purchase, as part of a promotion, or via a mail-in request.
Golden Hearts combines its currencies into a single type (simply called “Coins,” then distinguishes between those you’ve played with (Redeemable) and those you haven’t (Unplayed). The mail-in request above doesn’t give you any Redeemable Coins. Instead, it just gives you Unplayed Coins.
This isn’t a judgment either way. It’s just a different system from what you’ll find at many social casinos.
Golden Heart Games full review
Now, we’ll jump into our full review of Golden Hearts Games: the good, the not-so-good, and the outright bad. We’ll go by a letter-grade system, so an A+ is absolute perfection while an F is downright awful.
Golden Heart Games bonuses and promotions grade: C+
Golden Heart Casino scrapes barely above average in this category for a few reasons.
First, the welcome bonus is fine. Nothing to write home about (assuming you write home about sweepstakes casinos), but it gets the job done. When you sign up, Golden Hearts has a dedicated field for a promo code. If you don’t have one, the site lists a link that gives you one. This is a nice perk; Golden Hearts wants you to start with something without having to spend any money. Signing up with “Welcome2023” started us with 1,000 Unplayed Coins in our account.
The real kicker in this category is the refer-a-friend promotion. You can share your unique link with a friend. If they create an account and make their first donation for a coin package, you’ll get 5,000 Unplayed Coins in your account. The best part? There is no limit to how many friends you can refer. Compared to the programs at other online social and sweepstakes casinos, this is a great referral promotion.
Every 24 hours, you can spin the daily bonus wheel. On the one hand, this is more fun than getting the same amount of premium currency every day, like you do at other social and sweepstakes casinos. On the other hand, it’s not as consistent. At Chumba Casino, for example, you know that you are getting 1 Sweeps Coin every day you log in. At Golden Heart Games, you have no idea what you will get.
Finally, Golden Hearts has a decent selection of purchase offers. We’ll cover those in the purchase and redemption section below.
Put it all together, and Golden Heart Games offers a solid if unspectacular array of promo code offers.
Golden Heart Games website and mobile app grade: B-
Overall, we have few complaints about the Golden Hearts website. There is no mobile app, which results in a significant knock in the grade, but the website’s simplicity and solid functionality bring the score up.
Website
The first word that came to mind when we saw Golden Hearts Games’ website was “simple.” Certainly not a bad thing, but it does lack some of the flair you’d find at social casinos like WOW Vegas or Pulsz. The site is essentially a two-toned blue background, and the game thumbnails, Bingo link, and Daily Wheel sit atop that background.
As for functionality, Golden Hearts is solid. The games appear fun and stylish. They load faster than most games at other sites. (There’s a possible reason for that, which we’ll talk about in the game library section.)
One drawback is the hamburger menu in the top right. It works just fine, but it would be nice to see its options more prominently displayed, perhaps in the top section of the site, which already has a lot of blank real estate ripe for the taking.
Golden Hearts Games app
Golden Hearts Games does not have an iOS or Android app. The company states this very clearly in its FAQ section. This is an important note because if you search for Golden Hearts Games in the Google Play Store, an app with that very name will pop up. This is not the same operator. We compared the photos and details of the purported Android app with the Golden Hearts Games website, and they are very different. We strongly discourage you from playing on this similarly named app; we have not vetted it in any way.
In fact, at the time of this review, the company listing for the impostor app takes you to a blank Blogspot website that literally says “Sorry, there’s nothing here” on the homepage. Stay clear.
Golden Hearts players who want to enjoy the site via a mobile device can do so via a mobile browser. The site works well this way, and while it’s inconvenient to use a mobile browser, it’s still nice to have a mobile option.
Golden Hearts game library grade: D+
We’ve got good news and bad news.
- The good news: the games at Golden Hearts are fun and work very well. The quality is high, and the art styles are polished and unique.
- The bad news: at the time of this review, there were fewer than 20 games in the library.
Look at other social casino sites, and they blow Golden Hearts out of the water with sheer game variety and volume. Sites such as WOW Vegas and Chumba have many dozens of games, all of which are high quality.
Golden Hearts, meanwhile, has some cool games—and a surprising amount of variety considering the limited number—but it’s so limited that the online casino is hard to recommend by this criterion.
Here’s a full list of games at Golden Hearts at the time of this review:
Bingo
- Games every 10 minutes
Slots
- Frantic Fish
- Rockdog
- Palace of Riches
- Monster Moolah
- Pirate Booty
- Lucky Stars
- Old School Slots 2x
- King Lootencashin’s Lost Treasure Slots 2x
- Cash of the Titans
Scratch games/Instant win
- Scratch Classic
- Cash Mania
- Cash Cow
- Scratch Poker
- Gem Smash
- Magic Meadow
Table games
- Old School Jacks or Better Video Poker
- Old School Blackjack
Even though there are very few games, we did have a lot of fun with the ones we tried. Pirate Booty and Cash of the Titans have some cool comic book-esque art, and the symbols are expertly drawn. Blackjack worked well and had no extra frills. The instant win games are intriguing and worth a few tries. Bingo is one of the highlights, though, allowing you to play multiple cards and daub all qualifying numbers with a single click every time a ball is drawn.
However, despite the quality, the lack of quantity is a real buzzkill at Golden Hearts, and we only recommend it if you particularly love some of the games it offers. You’re better served at other social casinos with dozens or hundreds of games.
Golden Heart Games purchase and redemption methods grade: C
One distinction Golden Hearts is careful to make is that you aren’t purchasing Coins. Instead, you’re making a donation in exchange for Coins. Donations go to the Golden Hearts Charitable Foundation; we’ll discuss that more in a moment.
Donations for Coins
If you wish to get more Coins by making a donation—which is not required to play—you can do so. The minimum donation amount is $10. As of this writing, Golden Heart Games only accepts credit and debit card deposits via Mastercard, Visa, and Discover.
When we first signed in, these offers were available with a 10-minute timer. When the timer ran out, the offers were still available.
| Donation Amount | Coins | Boosted From |
|---|---|---|
| $100 | 56,250 | 50,000 |
| $50 | 30,300 | 25,000 |
| $25 | 17,600 | 12,500 |
| $10 | 10,000 | 5,000 |
If you plan to make a donation for Coins, these packages are a nice boost to the amount you’d otherwise receive.
For first-time users, Golden Hearts Games also ran a “spend $10, get $10 in free play” offer during the time of this review. So again, there are plenty of promotions for existing users at Golden Hearts Games involving purchases.
Do donations really go to charity?
Yes. We did a fair bit of research to confirm this. The Golden Hearts Charitable Foundation is a legitimate 501(c)(3) charity. When you make a donation for Coins, the site will send you an IRS-compliant charitable donation receipt. You can change the charity you wish to support at any time from the “My Account” page.
Donations are processed and split into three categories:
- Prize payouts for players who redeem Coins
- Grants to player-chosen charities
- Operator fees
In other words, if you read the fine print, only a portion of your donation goes to the charity you choose upon signing up. That’s still better than nothing, of course, and no other social or sweepstakes casino that we know even does that. However, emphasizing that you are making a donation instead of a purchase disguises the fact that Golden Hearts Games is a for-profit business.
In short, playing at Golden Hearts Games is not necessarily a replacement for making a donation to your favorite charity, but you can play with confidence that some of your funds will reach the intended charity.
Redemption options at Golden Hearts Games
You can cash in Redeemable Coins once you have 5,000 or more. Basically, every Redeemable coin is worth $0.002 USD. Thus, 5,000 Redeemable Coins can be cashed in for $10.
Here are the redemption methods and the thresholds for using them:
| Redemption method | Minimum number of Coins to redeem |
|---|---|
| PayPal | 5,000 |
| Prizeout digital gift card | 5,000 |
| ACH Direct Deposit | 12,500 |
| Check by mail | 50,000 |
For any redemption via PayPal between 5,000 and 12,499 Coins, you’ll be charged a fee of $0.50, deducted from your payout. Redemptions via PayPal of 12,500 or above will have no fee.
Golden Hearts Games customer service grade: C+
The first point in Golden Hearts Games’ favor when it comes to customer service is the FAQ section. Looking into the Frequently Asked Questions yielded a wealth of clear and detailed information about the site. Golden Hearts clearly put a lot of work into building a robust and helpful FAQ page. It answered many of our questions during this review and then some. Chances are, any common issue will be covered there.
If you need further help, you can submit a form for an email request or chat with a bot. The bot, if it can’t answer your question, will direct you to the email form. That’s a tad disappointing, but we did discover that the bot does a pretty good job of answering simple questions.
Still, we give Golden Hearts a C+ here because of its deep well of FAQ options and email support.
What others are saying about Golden Heart Games
Reviews on social media tend toward a few similar opinions on Golden Hearts Games. The first is that the bingo games are fun and simple.
The second overarching opinion matches our review above: the games are extremely limited. Players seek variety and standout features when playing casino-style games online, and Golden Hearts doesn’t deliver.
Other feedback varies and generally balances out the good with the bad. Many players are neutral on Golden Hearts, and we feel the same.
Golden Heart Games final grade: C+
Based on our comprehensive review, the best we can do is lukewarmly recommend Golden Hearts Games.
The game library is paltry at best, there’s no mobile app, and payment options are very limited.
However, the available games can be pretty fun, and the addition of charitable donations adds a unique angle to the whole experience.
It might be right for a few players, but Golden Hearts Games doesn’t have quite enough going for it to make it an easy recommendation.
How to open a Golden Heart Games account
Ready to create a Golden Hearts Games account? Head to the homepage and select “Join Now” to get started. This will open an account creation page that gives you two options:
- Enter your details manually
- Join with Facebook
You can use the second option to sign up for an account using your existing Facebook profile. Otherwise, you can enter the following details:
- First and last name
- US zip code
- Password
- Golden Hearts Games promo code (if you don’t already have one, you can click the link under this field to reveal a promo code)
You’ll then need to select two boxes. One indicates you accept the terms and conditions and that you’re 18 years old or above. The second indicates you haven’t already created a Golden Hearts account.
Once you’ve filled this information in, you will need to provide a phone number to verify your account. Golden Hearts will text you a code, which you can enter on the website to verify your account.
Select a charity
Golden Hearts lets you play for charity, so the next step is to select a charity to support. It automatically searches charities near the zip code you provide, but you can unselect that option and find other organizations if you choose.
In our brief time searching, we found many local and national charities available to support.
Can you trust Golden Heart Games?
Yes. Golden Hearts Games is a legal and legitimate sweepstakes casino. A few key points confirm this.
Golden Hearts is legal in all 50 states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. This is a bit of a departure from other sweepstakes sites, which are typically prohibited in Washington, Idaho, and Nevada (or some combination of those markets). We infer that Golden Hearts’ charitable angle is what makes it available in those usually restrictive markets.
The Golden Hearts Charitable Foundation is also a 501(c)(3) organization. This designation requires an application to the IRS.
SSL encryption is the gold standard for web security these days, and Golden Hearts uses it. You’ll see the lock symbol in your browser navigation bar when you’re on the site.
Golden Hearts Games background
Golden Hearts Games was founded in 2019 and the sweepstakes casino launched in 2020. The site partners with hundreds of charities to funnel player donations to causes they care about.
Golden Heart Games FAQ
Is there a Golden Hearts Games promo code?
Golden Hearts Games will give you a promo code when you sign up. When we joined for this review, it gave us the promo code “Welcome 2023,” which gave us 1,000 Unplayed Coins as a welcome bonus.
What is the welcome offer at Golden Hearts Games?
Joining Golden Hearts Games gets you 1,000 Unplayed Coins. You can get the offer by entering the code “Welcome2023” in the promo code field during sign-up.
Do donations really go to charity at Golden Hearts Games?
Yes. Donations you make in exchange for Coins at Golden Hearts partially go to the charity you’ve chosen.
Can you win real money at Golden Hearts Casino?
Yes. You can redeem Coins for cash prizes or gift cards after you’ve played with them at Golden Hearts Games. The minimum threshold for redemption is 5,000 Coins, which equates to $10.
What are the redemption options at Golden Hearts?
You can redeem via PayPal, Prizeout gift cards, ACH, or check by mail. The minimum redemption varies by method but starts at 5,000 Coins for PayPal or Prizeout.
What games does Golden Hearts offer?
Golden Hearts runs a bingo game every 10 minutes, plus a small selection of slots, table games, and instant win/scratch card titles.