How to Win Money Online: 9 Legit Strategies

“Where can I win cash online?”

I hear this a lot, and it’s not surprising.

Who doesn’t want to win cash? Winning means getting it without working, and there’s nothing bad about that.

Fortunately, there are a few ways that you can win legitimate cash online without having to do anything other than visit a website and click a few links.

The suggestions I have below are real ways that people use to win cash online.

Although no win is ever guaranteed, you’re not hurting yourself or your cashflow by trying!

How to Win Money Online

The number one thing to remember when looking for places online to win money is:

Don’t spend your money to make money!

There are a few exceptions to this, like if you’re gambling or playing the lotto instead of just signing up to win something, but we’ll get into that more below.

In most cases, you just need to play a game or sign up for something to have a chance to win.

If a site tells you that you need to pay money just to sign up and enter a giveaway or sweepstakes, then that’s a good sign it’s a scam and that you should stay far away.

Now, let’s get onto the legitimate money-winning ideas!

Enter Swagbucks Contests, Sweepstakes, and Games

If you haven’t tried Swagbucks yet, now is the time!

This place is the home of several ways to get free cash online, like playing games, earning cash back for shopping at your favorite online stores, and even searching the web or reading your emails.

You can turn in your points for everything you do for a gift card to PayPal, Amazon, and tons of other awesome stores you love.

Swagbucks also has an area where you can completely win cash without having to do anything but enter.

It’s called Swagstakes.

You’ll use your points – known as SBs on Swagbucks – to enter.

Some of the Swagstakes will only be a couple of points to enter, but you’ll also have more difficult odds to win because more people enter them.

There are also Swagstakes that cost 100 SBs or more to enter, but the prizes are usually better.

You can win PayPal cash prizes, Amazon gift cards, and items like luggage, cookware, or TVs.

There’s also a section called SB Lottery that gives away free points between 5,000 and 25,000 SBs! In most cases, that’ll equate to $50 to $250 that you can use to get a gift card of your choice.

If you want the best chances of winning, head to the Limited Entries tab, as Swagbucks puts a cap on how many people can enter these Swagstakes to make them a bit easier to win.

Swagbucks sometimes also has random contests where you can earn more points.

Check your emails from the site frequently to make sure you know when everything is happening.

And don’t forget to do all the other stuff on the site that’s completely free, like taking surveys and playing games.

Swagbucks usually has some kind of bonus points event going on that can give you extra points for doing specific tasks.

Most of the time, you can find out what’s currently happening by visiting your dashboard.

Enter Blog Giveaways

I’m sure you’ve, at some point, come across a blog with a giveaway, either for an item or for cash.

Blog giveaways are popular for both bloggers and visitors.

Visitors, of course, are the lucky ones who get to win whatever the prizes are.

And bloggers get to benefit from increased traffic from people entering the giveaway.

Bloggers also often make entries something like, “Follow my Twitter account” or “Like this Facebook post,” so they see increased followers and engagement just by running a giveaway.

The entries are usually easy for you to complete, and most bloggers offer a lot of different ways you can enter to earn more entries and increase your chances of winning.

In previous blog giveaways I’ve entered, I’ve won stuff like board games, skincare products, gift cards, and even PayPal cash.

PayPal cash is one of the most common prizes bloggers giveaway because they know how popular it is as a prize! Popular prizes makes more people interested in entering the giveaway.

You can find blog giveaways by visiting your favorite blogs and seeing if they have a Giveaway section.

Or, browse Giveaway Monkey, which bloggers use to list their giveaways.

You can also check with the blogs you visit to see if they have a section for giveaway link-ups.

These are great because they’ll allow other bloggers to link their giveaways, too, to give you a bunch of giveaways to enter!

Try Online Sweepstakes

You can try online sweepstakes, too, which are a little different than blog giveaways.

These are usually on brand websites rather than personal blogs, and you’ll often have to give your name, email, and mailing address away to enter them.

So, be prepared to get some emails or mail from the company (not always, but it does happen).

Online sweepstakes can have some incredible prizes, from thousands of dollars in cash to huge item bundles to cars and even homes.

Just depends on the company!

There are lots of places to find online sweepstakes, including visiting your favorite brands’ websites, but I prefer to use curated listing sites like Sweeps-Takes, Just Sweep, and Online Sweepstakes.

Follow Your Favorite Brands on Social Media

Along similar lines, you may be able to stay on top of some awesome sweepstakes by following your favorite brands on their social media channels.

This can save you a trip to several websites to check if there are any new sweepstakes happening.

Many companies post their newest contests and giveaways right on their Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram pages, so being an active follower of your favorite companies can come in handy.

If you’re having trouble finding any of their social media accounts, you can usually find links to them on the brand websites.

Read Your Emails

I also suggest signing up for emails for the companies you love.

This is another place where they’ll frequently send updates about winning prizes for any contests they have going on.

Sometimes, email subscribers are the first to know!

And, as a newsletter subscriber, you’ll be one of the first to hear about new promotions and sales, so it has benefits beyond just winning stuff.

You may want to keep a separate email address for all of these newsletters so that you can find everything quickly and not have all their emails cluttering up your regular inbox.

Use MoneyCroc

MoneyCroc is a site that its parent company uses to help sell its games.

In the process of doing so, you can have a chance at winning up to $50 just by refreshing the page.

How does that work?

When you visit MoneyCroc, you choose to win either $5, $10, or $50.

The $5 prize will be easier to win and the $50 prize is the most difficult.

All you need to do is keep refreshing the page until the two images you see on the site are identical.

When they are, you hit the button that says “I won!”

If not, hit the Try Again button.

You can do this for as long as you’d like to try to win some cash, and you don’t even need to register.

MoneyCroc gives half of its income to its visitors who use the site to try to win money, so one of those lucky people could be you.

It’s a genius income maker for MoneyCroc because, when you refresh the page, the owners get more income from the advertisements on the page!

If you do win, you’ll receive an Amazon gift card within about 24 hours from giving the site your information.

Bet on Your Weight Loss

With apps like HealthyWage and DietBet, you can win money by losing weight!

This is no joke.

Basically, you’ll sign up and enter a bet on yourself (so, yes, this initial step will cost money because it’s betting).

You’ll include your goals and how much you’re willing to bet, which will determine how much you can win.

Each app/site works a little differently, but they both have challenges you can enter to go against other players.

On HealthyWage, you can also bet on yourself.

DietBet lets you host your own challenges or join the ones you see on the app, some of which have some incredible pots of money up for grabs.

You’ll need to weigh in to prove your progress.

If you hit your goal at the end of the betting period, then you can win cash!

So, as long as you’re losing weight and getting healthy, you could end up with free cash at the end of your journey in addition to getting the body you’ve been working toward.

Money is an awesome motivator, so it could give you the kick you needed to get started.

Use Lottery Apps and Sites

Lottery apps and websites aren’t exactly my favorite way to win money, but they could work for you, so they’re worth a mention.

There are many of them on the web, but you’ll need to be careful about using any that ask you to pay money, enter personal information, or otherwise seem like scams.

Prime Scratch Cards is one that offers online instant win scratch cards, just like the ones you can buy at the store.

These ones also cost some money, but new users can get 120 of them for free to get started.

You can also try Box Lotto, which has free lottery games with no registration required.

Jackpocket is an app that helps you play your state’s lotteries right on your smartphone.

And Lucktastic is a popular app with various games that could make you a cash winner right on your phone.

Last Resort: Online Gambling

I’m mentioning online gambling as a last resort because, although it could make you win a lot of money, the chances of it are low.

Online gambling is just like real gambling.

There are online casinos where you can do everything from your computer, including placing bets and playing the games.

The downside to this is, of course, that you could also lost a lot of money.

There are absolutely no guarantees when it comes to gambling, hence the name.

And gambling comes with other risks, like gambling addiction.

I don’t like touting anything that makes you pay money to win money (with the exception of betting on your weight loss like I mentioned before, because you’re in control of the outcome!).

Gambling does exactly that, so I don’t think it’s best for anyone who is strictly looking to win money.

There are other routes you can take, like those I mentioned above, that don’t cost a dime to get started.

If you do decide to dabble in online gambling, just be sure to use a legitimate site.

Many of them have online reviews you can search for to see what other players have said about them.

Final Thoughts

There are plenty of ways to have a chance at winning cash online without having to buy lottery tickets or give your information to a bunch of companies that are going to bombard you with phone calls and emails.

The ideas I listed above are ones that real people use to try to win money online.

You may be one of the lucky ones who actually wins!

Do you have other suggestions for winning cash online?

If so, drop them down in the comments to share them with other readers.

Also, if you have any thoughts about the ideas listed in this article, we’d love to hear them.