Card Crush, the newly launched RPG-style card battle gaming site that also features casino-style games and a redeemable currency, officially has a big name ambassador in the sweepstakes gaming industry.
McLuck, the flagship brand of B-Two Operations.
On Jan. 16, McLuck sent an email to its California users with the subject line Alternative to Sweepstakes in California: Play at Card Crush. The email contains information about Card Crush and a button link that takes players directly to the sign-up page.
Sweeps gone from CA, ‘but you can play at Card Crush’
Here is exactly what the email says:
Welcome to Card Crush
Sweepstakes are not available to play in California but you can play at Card Crush!
Get 66% off your first purchase, was $29.99 now just $9.99!
[Play at Card Crush]
Try your luck with your Card Crush – Purchase Mystery Boxes for cards and Mystery Coins
Use your cards wisely – Collect Cards and battle against other players in Daily Tournaments
Enjoy the Thrill of Winning – Play Casino Style Games and cashout your mystery coins
And at the top of this email prominently stands a header with the brand logo of McLuck.
Card Crush, however, is not owned and operated by B-Two Operations. Its site footer indicates a company called Vision NL Limited owns it. A press release announcing the launch of Card Crush also makes no mention of B-Two Operations (or Vision NL Limited, for that matter) — just a site director named Bertrand Levaux.
“We saw a gap in the market for a platform that truly integrated the joy of collecting with the competitive spirit of gaming and the fun of casino,” Leveaux said in the release. “ … It’s an ecosystem that offers players every layer of engagement—from the excitement of the unbox to the strategy of the battle, and the thrill of the spin.”
It’s interesting to note, however, especially considering that McLuck is now trying to direct its California customers to play at Card Crush, that the site build of Card Crush exactly mirrors that of McLuck. And both B-Two Operations and Vision NL Limited are registered in the Isle of Man.
The mechanics of Card Crush
At its core, Card Crush works like many RPG card games: Two players face off across five rounds, each selecting a five-card lineup for each round to pit against each other. Win more matches, climb the leaderboard, and move into higher tiers.
Advancing through those tiers gets players Loyalty Club Points, which improve card quality and increase rewards. As players accumulate those points, they earn Mystery Coins — the redeemable currency. Items called Mystery Boxes can be purchased to add new cards to a deck, along with a bundle of Mystery Coins.
Here’s where Card Crush — a 21-and-over site — becomes its own unique hybrid product …
Rather than being limited to deck upgrades, Mystery Coins can be spent on casino-style games. Card Crush’s footer menu indicates it has games from providers like Evoplay and Ruby Play. And, again, like Sweeps Coins on sites like McLuck, Mystery Coins can also be redeemed for real money on Card Crush.
The model surrounding Mystery Coins, however, is different from McLuck’s.
There is no dual-currency system of Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins. (This has been the target of most bills banning sweepstakes casinos, such as those in California and New York.) Instead, Card Crush uses a single-currency system with Mystery Coins.
Beyond these Mystery Coins, nothing else on Card Crush carries redeemable value. The cards themselves can’t be redeemed or used to access the site’s casino-style games. They exist solely for the purpose of RPG card battles and rising the loyalty tiers — a process that, in addition to simply purchasing them, can also lead to acquiring Mystery Boxes.
But again … there’s just one currency.
ClubWPT Gold’s new model also available in CA and NY
Currently, Card Crush is only live in California and New York.
Another gaming platform with a single redeemable currency recently relaunched in California and New York as well: ClubWPT Gold.
ClubWPT Gold’s approach mirrors Card Crush’s in strategy but is quite different in practice. ClubWPT Gold has pivoted to become a poker education platform. Instead of Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins, it abandoned the dual-currency model to have only one redeemable currency — Chips — and then something called Hand Analysis Credits, which players can purchase to give them access to education tools. And then these Credits also come with free Sweeps Coins.
We’ll see if single-currency options like these work in the long run, or perhaps if lawmakers will eventually adjust the language of their bills to include “single-currency” models, too.
Maryland’s twin sweeps ban bills introduced earlier this month went the opposite direction. Instead of using “dual-currency” language that most sweeps bills have used, Senate Bill 112 and House Bill 295 ban any sweeps game that “utilizes multiple currency systems.”
The “multiple” language certainly covers lawmakers’ tracks if an operator is attempting to add currencies to get around the “dual-currency” bans. But it does nothing to directly combat the gaming models employed by ClubWPT Gold and Card Crush.
