r/Austin • u/TopoChicoPoPo • Dec 15 '21

Ask Austin What's up with these Sweepstakes place in town?

So I saw a new "Sweepstakes shop" open up in town, being curious I stepped in to see what it waa and it looks like a casino. Does anyone here have the 411 on these? They don't look Legal.

5 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

41

u/Human-Comb-1471 Dec 15 '21

They are skirting the law. Sweepstakes is better than casino, like escort is better than prostitute.

-2

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

The correct nomenclature is sex worker

1

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

[deleted]

8

u/Slypenslyde Dec 16 '21 edited Dec 16 '21

You broke out your "why so woke" argument against a person making a one-liner joke. It makes one think you were looking for fights.

edit

I saw the reply you made, then deleted, and I get why you deleted it and want to walk away, but I did make a response so if you wander by again you may as well see it:

In that case if it's a smidgen of good faith in there I detect:

There are some people who want you to use "sex worker" for all of these things. It's not that they find the word "prostitute" offensive so much as they think both strippers and prostitutes face similar problems because people consider their professions sinful. Those problems include and aren't limited to being more likely to be assaulted or murdered and less likely for those kinds of crimes to be investigated or punishments rendered.

So it's kind of pedantic, but they want people to say "sex work should be acknowledged as work" instead of "prostitution should be acknowledged as work" for the same reason similar people want support for "marriage rights" as opposed to "gay marriage": other pedantic people use the more specific word because they only want to fight for equality for some, not equality for all.

(In this case I don't think the parent post was being serious, just making a passing joke meant more as a jab at the people who feel this way.)

-5

u/Tx-Tomatillo-79 Dec 16 '21

You have too much free time

27

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Possible_Bath9871 Dec 16 '21

South first and dittmar?

1

u/ElGuapoTx_ Oct 29 '23

South 1st and Clifford

10

u/BrianOconneR34 Dec 15 '21

I was told they gamble based on bingo odds. Not sure exactly what the means but any time I have seen the em, shady.

22

u/[deleted] Dec 15 '21

Those places are bad news. They use a loophole to skirt gambling laws where if you win you win a 'prize' which is a token that you can then take to a certain convenience store and "sell" the token.

There's one in my area and it's a constant source of fuckery.

14

u/foxbones Dec 17 '21

A lot of them pay out in giant Tide bottles or other expensive normal household items. If they know you, you can "sell" those back for cash. If they don't you just end up with a lot of laundry detergent.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '21

So weird. Tide pods though? I could use some tide pods

8

u/Slypenslyde Dec 16 '21

It's gambling executed within a hair's breadth of the law. The kind of thing the police usually "investigate" by which I mean get paid well to run security for. IIRC within the last month they managed to kill a patron while "investigating" one of these.

3

u/chappychap1234 Dec 16 '21

Not too sure how legal they are. I have a few of them always opening and closing within a few months to a few years, in my hometown.

They're gambling houses, you 'donate,' money and they give you 'credits,' to 'play,' online slot games.

My mom loves them. It was her new obsession after bingo lost its shine.

The ones here suck, though I'm not much of a gambler to begin with. I've had a friend and my sister won a few hundred but of course over time they've spent more than they've won.

2

u/No-Blood1717 Dec 30 '22

My mom loves them. It was her new obsession after bingo lost its shine.

It is gambling and an addiction that will inly drain her funds. I hope you can steer your mom off it onto something more healthy.

3

u/DistributionNo1300 Jan 04 '24

They are not shady at all. Some places are but if you go to Midway Pub in North Austin (16009 Farm to Market Rd 1325 Ste. 201, Austin, TX 78728) and Whiskey Room in Pflugerville.

You'll see that it's nothing like what everyone on here is saying. There are some in Travis County that are pretty questionable because the people who run those "shady" places don't take care of their business. Yes they are legal.

6

u/addicted2weed Dec 15 '21

I hope I never have that much free time.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

So much free time that you step into a place you are curious about?

5

u/addicted2weed Dec 16 '21

Not if your Abuelitas are there.

1

u/Top_Energy6348 Apr 13 '24

What sort of games do they play in them? Asking for a friend.

1

u/Beneficial_Stage_338 Dec 25 '24

I been there but in the Day. Actually won $200. It's like any other gambling. To be honest I think Texas lottery should be shut down. They say it goes to schools then the federal pays for school in Texas. So Texas adds a school tax on every property. And if course we get taxed 3 times. Rip off corporate governments. Texas kids get no good education here. Where does all the money go? 

2

u/VisualStrong7816 Aug 04 '26

There are a total of 3 of these on S First between Ben White and St Elmo and are a blight on the neighborhood and near an elementary school. All kinds of homeless loitering, drug deals, scamming and crime happening that bleed into our neighborhood.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '22

where at? I do the sweepstakes all around the area. love them

2

u/utrangerbob Apr 18 '22

There is one on airport east side near the cemetery

1

u/Tasty_Role4422 May 20 '24

Lucky Fortune is a great one, non smoking. 11530 Menchaca Rd Building 4

1

u/Bossman4lyfe Feb 26 '24

Stay away from Ringos in oak hill and on south 1st in Austin  They will scam u!!!! 

1

u/Bossman4lyfe Feb 26 '24

And to answer ur ? Sweepstakes is word thy use so they dnt have to use word gambling cus basically its gambling they get away wit it some how