• Games You Can Actually Make Money On
• Can You Make Money From Playing Video Games

• This collection of games that pay real money gives you a complete overview of the best titles (and variants) available online.
• Free games that pay real cash prizes are fun - but you should never forget that gambling isn't a way to get rich quick. Also, always check the terms and conditions of a casino before you start to play and not only when you want to cash out your winnings.
• Pick a scratch-off to play quick games for real money or go to the blackjack table to challenge the dealers. The choice is yours!

Playing games online is not what it used to be — that's for sure.

I still remember the days I'd load a cassette (!) in the cassette player of my Philips MSX (yes, I am THAT old) and wait for minutes for a game to load. Eventually.

That frantic wait has now been replaced by the Fortnite, the Call of Duty and the Super Mario Kart that load in a snap and throw you in the middle of epic and fantastic adventure within seconds.

In 2020, games are everywhere.

We play on our mobile phones, on our desktops, on our gaming consoles, on our smart TVs…and sometimes even on our watches.

The gaming industry keeps growing one boom after the other, and the quality of the games we play is nothing like the games used to be.

And this isn't true only for the Pong or Tetris that rocked our childhood evenings on an Atari or a Nintendo Game Boy. The same also applies to online games for money.

The games where you can win real money in 2020 are nothing like those where you'd try to score some cash a decade ago.

We’ve decided to help you get your idea off the ground and show how exactly you can make money on free apps. Free Apps Grossing Big Bucks According to Sensotower, the App Store and Google Play users spent a total of $39.7 billion on mobile apps and games during the first half of 2019. Well, ads can also make money by disappearing. Many games offer to show you an ad-free experience if you're willing to pay a little bit of cash, and that's great for the gaming company. Obviously, it means that you've paid for the game, but it also means that you might be willing to consider some 'micro-transactions' within it. You could potentially earn $500 to $1,500 per month simply by playing games in their free time. As you can see, there are plenty of easy and interesting ways to make money playing games online.

Yes, you can actually make money playing games online. Here are our top legitimate ways you can make money playing games online.

The graphics are better and the gameplays are more sophisticated.

This list of games that pay money gives you direct access to some of the best titles to play online in 2020. All the sites we suggest offer a bonus on registration to all the players who want to play games for real money online.

Whether you're into games like online blackjack or you prefer to try your luck on slots, this list has something for you.

Best Online Games that Pay Real Money in 2020

Choosing the best casino games to play for real money is not easy.

With so many new Slots and new online casinos popping up all the time, it takes time and sweat to find the best games that pay real money online.

Unless you have a trustworthy source *cough* like CasinoSmash *cough* to help you.

Casino Slots That Pay Real Money

Jackpot Slots

This is a slippery slope, I know. Of all the online casino games that pay real money, jackpot games aren't the one with the best odds — by a mile.

Playing jackpot slots is expensive and risky. The RTP of these games is below average, and since you always need to bet the maximum to hit the jackpot…these can become the most expensive online games that pay real cash. Easily.

Sites like 888casino and partycasino run daily jackpots where you can get decent winning odds. All the info are right on their sites, so don’t forget to look at volatility and RTP of each game before you play.

I am not a fan of progressive games because I cannot afford them. But if you are looking for online games that pay real money and you are OK with playing two spins instead of 100 — these might be up your alley.

Remember to play responsibly.

Blood Suckers

Table and card games tend to be everyone's first choice when looking for games that pay real cash to play online.

Why? Because they offer better RTP and so more chances to win. Or fewer to lose, you decide what's most appropriate here.

However, some online slots can also rival the best card games for real money available for online play.

The Blood Suckers video slot is one of those. Featuring an RTP of 98%, this game gives you a higher return than many of the table games offered by most online casinos.

Blood Suckers (a five-reel game by NetEnt) includes special features like free spins which are granted to you once you land three Vampire Brides as well as bonus round, where you get to slay vampires in a spooky tomb and are granted cash in the process.

Turn Your Fortune

Spin the reels and turn your fortune with this great NetEnt slot machine game!

The Turn Your Fortune slot launched in 2019. Since then, this real money game online has proven to be a massive hit for the Malta-based gaming company.

Turn Your Fortune features five reels, four rows, and 40 fixed paylines. And it wouldn't be a NetEnt slot if it didn't have top-quality graphics, beautiful animations, and bonus features that pay well — of course.

Take the Fortune Respins feature, for example.

Not only you get a free respin after a win, but the winning symbols also increase the multiplier meter on the left of the screen.

Each time it fills up, you move to another Fortune Wins level — getting the opportunity to trigger multipliers for up to x200.

* The Return to the Player (RTP) is the percentage of how much wagered money on the game theoretically goes back to the players.

If a slot has an RTP of 96 per cent and players spent €1,000 playing it, €960 will go back to the players in winnings while the House will keep the remaining €40.

Casino Table Games That Pay Real Money

Live Blackjack

Of all the games that pay real money, live casino blackjack is probably the most exciting and the one where your skills can help you with your winning chances.

Join players from anywhere in the world in an endless battle against a live blackjack dealer. Super HD cameras and incredible locations make live blackjack the king of all online games that pay real cash.

If you want to discover why everyone says live dealer games are great (and you should), this is the best site to play live blackjack games that payout real cash prizes.

European Roulette

It doesn't matter if you in it because you are a high-roller or you just want to play for fun. There's nothing like a game of roulette for real money.

You can learn how to play online roulette in minutes and you only need to use this roulette strategy to master the game like an expert.

The difference between American and European Roulette is all about your winning chances.

In short, you have more chances to play casino games and win money if you play European roulette.

Casino Hold'Em

Casino hold'em is easy to learn, fast to play, and it gives you better odds than most other casino games online.

No need to work on your bluffing skills, though. In this casino poker game, you always play against the dealer, not with other players.

In a game of casino hold 'em there three types of bets: the mandatory Ante bet, the Call bet and side a bet called AA.

• You make Ante bet if you want to play,
• Call bet if you think your hand is good enough to win,
• AA bet if you feel like a pair of Aces (or better) combo will appear among your cards and the flop (first three community cards).

Tip: Never waste your money on AA bets. These real money wagers decrease the return to the player percentage to 93.74 per cent.

Casino Scratch Cards That Pay Real Money

Mad Max Scratch Cards

There's something almost wrong in calling Mad Max: Fury Road a 'scratch card' — because this game offers a lot more.

Licensed by Warner Bros this online game that pays real money features a random progressive jackpot and a scatter symbol that triggers 10 free games with real money prizes.

The player's percentage of theoretical expected return is 95.48%, which is one of the highest in its category of online casino games.

If you are up for the top prizes, keep in mind that the progressive jackpot needs to be north of $750 to trigger.

Luxor Scratch

With tickets starting at 0.10, Luxor Scratch is one of the cheapest free online games that pay cash that you can play online.

For it to be free, however, you need to use the welcome bonus at 888casino first.

Egypt-themed music and graphics make this a delightful game — too bad for the piss-poor 92.30% RTP!

Other Casino Games That Pay Real Money

Monopoly Live!

Did you know NetEnt found a way to turn everyone's favourite board game into one of the best games that pay real money in 2020?

Bringing together the best of game-shows like the DreamCatcher and all the elements that made Monopoly famous, Monopoly Live is an exciting adventure to discover.

This is for sure one of the most immersive casino games that pay out real money available online in 2020 and is also one of the most fun games to play. The gameplay brings together elements of the classic wheel of fortune games and Monopoly — and that's fun already.

But wait until you see what the talented presenters chosen by NetEnt can do to entertain you! If you want to give Monopoly Live a go, this is where you need to register to access the game.

CS:GO (or e-Sports Betting in General)

Ladies and gentlemen…e-Sports are finally included in the list of the best games that give you real money in prizes!

Pioneered by Betway the world of real money e-sports and e-sports betting is a thriving new dimension of real money gaming online — one that most of you have yet to discover, I am sure.

Watch people play (you need to register toped the live stream) and place your bets on popular games like CS:GO, DOTA 2, League of Legends, and more!

Disclaimer: Gambling is a game of chance and there's no sure-fire formula that guarantee winnings. You can improve your winning chances by using the right in-game strategies but there is no way to predict when a machine or a Casino game is going to pay. Also, this page contains affiliate links. If you click through and play, we might earn a commission. That’s what allow us to keep CasinoSmash free and bring you the best online Casino bonuses!

Ever find yourself watching a video of someone playing a video game and wondering if you can make money on Twitch?

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It sounds like a dream come true, doesn’t it?

Well, it’s not a dream anymore. It’s now a reality. People have found out how to make money on Twitch just by streaming their gaming sessions.

With Twitch.TV, you can join 3.8 million broadcasters and live stream anything from you playing your favorite game to a tutorial on how to assemble a computer table Ikea-style to more than 15 million daily viewers.

As of 2020, Twitch is the number one esports live streaming service in the world.

It beats direct competitors Mixer, SmashCast.tv, and YouTube Gaming by a long shot.

And streamers are leveraging the power of the platform to make more money than ever thought possible.

How Much Money Do Twitch Streamers Make?

Making money with Twitch can be impressively lucrative, especially if you’ve got the right mix of personality, skills, and luck.

For example, popular Twitch streamer Ninja (real name: Tyler Blevins) has previously revealed that he earns around $500,000 per month from Twitch Prime subscriptions, sponsorships, and partnerships, as well as YouTube revenues from his 5 million subscribers.

Note that Ninja has been livestreaming since 2008.

Nowadays, though, Ninja exclusively streams on Twitch’s rival Mixer. He’s now worth upwards of $15 million, so he’s not doing too bad.

Not everyone will be pulling that kind of money, of course. But it’s still possible to earn some money.

How much cash you can make by will depend on your popularity, number of subscribers, type of content streamed, and the monetization option you choose.

How Do You Monetize Your Twitch Account?

Donations

Donations may seem like an insignificant monetization option, but imagine having a million followers who all decide to each donate a dollar within a span of 30 days.

You’d be a millionaire in a month, just from the donations.

Realistically, though, only a few of your viewers will donate, so keep this as a secondary option for income and don’t depend on this too much.

Affiliate marketing

Another common way to monetize your Twitch account is by joining various affiliate programs and promoting other companies’ and people’s products and services.

You do this by displaying a customized link to a site where your viewers can make a purchase. For every purchase coming from a click to your custom link, you’ll get a percentage of the cost.

This is different from the Twitch Affiliate Program, which you’ll learn about below.

Sponsorships

If a brand is impressed with your content and happens to have the same target audience as your videos, they might ask to sponsor a livestream or two (or two dozen, if you’re really good) so you can get paid to promote their brand to your viewers.

To be seriously considered for sponsorship, whether one-off or long-term, you’ll need to have a huge fan base with specific demographics that appeals to a certain brand. Plus, you’ll need to maintain a solid, reliable reputation.

As you know, these don’t come overnight; it takes a lot of work and a lot of livestreams to build a fan base and a good reputation.

Once you have these, though, it can really open up a huge source of steady income for you.

The Twitch Affiliate Program

Twitch sends an invitation e-mail to any streamer who has been working consistently to produce content.

Those with at least 50 followers, an average of 3 (or more) simultaneous viewers in the last 30 days, at least 8 hours of total broadcast in a month, and at least 7 broadcast days in the last 30 days get an invitation email from Twitch to be part of the Twitch Affiliate Program.

Once you become an affiliate, you can earn by accumulating “Bits” or when people subscribe and support your channel.

You also have the chance of earning from game sales and in-game items that originated from your channel.

Twitch Subscriptions

Once you’re a Twitch Affiliate, your viewers can subscribe to your Twitch channel.

Subscribing to a Twitch channel is more than just following; it’s following with added monetary support.

There are three subscription tiers currently available to users: $4.99, $9.99, and $24.99 monthly subscription.

Twitch also offers Twitch Prime, which is included with Amazon Prime and Prime Video, which viewers can use to subscribe to a channel of their choice for free.

Games You Can Actually Make Money On

What do viewers get from their subscription? They get unique emotes (or emoji), badges, special alerts, ad-free viewing, exclusive chatrooms, and exclusive competitions.

Which viewers are willing to pay subscription fees? Your genuine fans who truly like and appreciate the content you’re offering.

As for you as a streamer, subscriptions are a good, steady way to make money on Twitch. Also, it’s a good incentive to keep creating content.

Twitch keeps 50% of the fee and the Twitch Affiliate or Partner gets the other 50%.

Can You Make Money From Playing Video Games

Ad revenues

Twitch affiliates can earn money with shares in the advertisement revenue generated from video ads shown during their streams.

There’s no set income earned this way, but as a streamer’s followers increase, so will their ad shares.

Traditionally, video ads on Twitch streams are disruptive, but Twitch is introducing changes to make advertising on Twitch beneficial to everyone: advertisers, streamers, viewers, and Twitch, of course.

Twitch affiliates (and partners) are now allowed to take ad breaks and show ads via picture-by-picture so viewers don’t miss any of the gaming action. Enabling ad breaks would also allow streamers to disable pre-roll ads, that is, video ads that play before every stream, for a certain amount of time.

This is similar to the primary way of making money on YouTube, which is through ads. There are also a few other ideas listed there that could possibly be used to make money on Twitch as well.

The Twitch Partner Program

Any Twitch streamer who aims to make it big in the site dreams to be accepted into this program.

Unlike their Affiliate Program, the Twitch Partnership program is exclusive. You’d have to send an application for Twitch to check if your channel is qualified.

There are no published, set criteria on how Twitch Partners are selected, although they are known to consider content quality, average viewership, your engagement with your viewers, and stream frequency and consistency (that is, can they expect new content from you every week on a certain day?).

When you do make it as Twitch partner, you’ll reap all the benefits offered to affiliates, plus live chat privileges, custom emoticons and prefixes, verified user badges, and other exclusive-to-partner perks.

12 Ways You Can Make Money on Twitch

Below are 12 ways people are making money on Twitch to give you some ideas on how you could start and what kind of niches are available on the site.

If you’re just starting out, try and remain mindful of the type of monetization path you’d like to pursue down the line.

Make sure you keep your content relevant to that path to further your chances of succeeding.

1. Live video game, “Let’s Play” style

Twitch.TV is first and foremost the home of esports, so expect the competition among gamers to be fierce.

But if you’ve mastered a particular game and have a unique personality, there’s a good chance you’ll succeed in competing with older, more popular streamers.

The best thing about Twitch is that anyone can do it. Take Mackenseize, for example – she’s been diagnosed with a seizure disorder as a teen.

Now, even if the 25-year-old Hearthstone streamer seizes every once in a while during a stream, her 37,000+ followers continue to support her with every game she explores.

2. Speedrun

Speedrunning is the same as livestreaming any game, except that the goal of “speedrunners” is to complete an entire level or a whole game as fast as possible.

TheMexicanRunner, for example, is a hardcore speedrunner for classic games and has made a huge following with his NESMania quest, wherein he tries to finish every officially licensed game from the original Nintendo Entertainment System at record-breaking speeds.

3. Talk shows and podcasts

Twitch.TV also has streamers who host talk shows on gaming, where they talk about various games, review them, talk about the latest news, gossip, and issues about the gaming industry, and maybe even interview guests and hold round-table

Other talk shows on Twitch.TV do not focus on gaming.

h3h3Productions, for example, is an Israeli-American comedy channel produced by husband and wife team Ethan and Hila Klein.

With more than 570,000 followers, H3’s main content is a mix of commentaries, sketches, satires, and reaction videos about internet culture, YouTube policies, viral trends, and online personalities.

The duo even interviews YouTubers and celebrities.

Because more and more people and content creators are staying at home these days, expect Twitch to have more and more talk shows covering a variety of topics.

4. Play casino games

If you’re not a fan of video games and instead prefer playing poker and other casino games, there’s a special place for you on Twitch.TV.

Whether you’re a fan of slots, poker, or roulette, there’s room on Twitch.TV for you.

The most popular Twitch casino streamers as of 2020 include ROSHTEIN, CasinoDaddy, and ClassyBeef.

5. Radio-style stream

It’s not as popular as esports, but the Twitch Music category is a goldmine for anyone looking to create content or just chill.

Aside from taking advantage of the Twitch Music Library, which houses precleared music for Twitch broadcasters to use in their livestreams, you can also discover other streamers like NoCopyrightSounds who are focused on providing non-stop music to the Twitch community.

Of course, if you have the resources, you can always copy the success of legit radio-style streaming channels of Monstercat, SpinninRecords, and RelaxBeats, among many others.

6. Perform music

When the Music category was first launched in 2016, Steve Aoki, T-Pain, Deadmau5, and other EDM artists supported Twitch and the users embraced them wholeheartedly.

Today, big-name artists like Kanye continue to use the platform as a way to promote their music, increase followers, or simply chill with the Twitch community.

Even if big-ticket artists are sure winners on Twitch, it shouldn’t be stopping anyone with real musical abilities to earn money from Twitch, or even make it big.

There are plenty of hidden gems on Twitch, such as husband-and-wife gamers/musicians Travis and Allie of a_couple_streams, Kyle Landry’s Piano Madness, and a whole lot more.

7. Livestream your art

If musicians can livestream their music, graphic artists can also livestream their art on Twitch.

The Art category on Twitch is one of the most interesting non-gaming categories on Twitch, featuring artwork on different media, physical as well as digital, being created live while audiences watch.

Some watch to relax, others want to learn new techniques they can incorporate in their work, and still others like to see their favorite video game characters or worlds come to being as tangible artwork.

If you do plan to do this, make sure that your “info” section has relevant information and links to your portfolio so that your subscribers can find your other artwork.

Also, if you have a shop where they can buy your art, it’s also important to link to it so they can buy your art.

8. Make crafts

You can find streamers making all kinds of crafts under the Makers & Crafting category.

If you sew or make your own costumes for your cosplay, assemble your own gaming computers, or create jewelry or accessories, this might just be a video category you can get on board with.

Considering this is still primarily a video gaming stream site, you can make more money on Twitch if your crafts are related to games. Not only will more people view your videos, but they’re also likely to buy what you’ve made.

9. Play Magic: The Gathering

The cool thing about livestreaming is that even physical games like Magic: The Gathering can be broadcasted from your home.

And if you’ve been a master-gamer of Magic since it was launched in the early 90s, you can still bring out your card collections and revive the glory of competing against other Magic fans.

However, playing the digital version of Magic: The Gathering, Arena, has been more popular in recent years, enabling gamers who aren’t in the same location to stream their game.

Interested in joining Twitch.TV and earn money from your Magic: The Gathering skills, but don’t know where to start?

Check out the channels of LSV, Caleb Durward (CalebD), Kenji (NumotTheNummy), and Bob Ristau, and see how you can stream your own MTG plays and actually make money.

10. Live IRL

Twitch opened the IRL category to a ton of criticisms, but once the initial shock has passed, many existing Twitch streamers welcomed the idea and use it themselves for downtime, non-game streaming.

Within the IRL category, gamers could eat, sing, craft, cook, play sports, and other activities without being reprimanded for doing so at their respective game-specific category.

Since then, the IRL category has broken into different categories, but you can still tag videos as IRL.

IRL streams can be anything under the sun. Here are multiple examples that actually happened on Twitch IRL streams:

• KitBoga calls IRS, tax, virus, and other scammers and plays along for hours. He uses a voice changer to get into full characters like old-lady Edna and fools scammers for as long as possible.
• Someone doing math homework
• A guy assembling an Ikea closet
• Someone decorating a Christmas tree
• Architect designing a house
• Fully clothed Andy Milonakis streaming from inside a running shower
• Someone staring at a wall (this kid made $100 for this activity)
• A guy making balloon animals for over an hour
• An American reading books in French
• Bounty hunters who livestream while working
• Someone who made two Google Homes talk to each other for hours
• A garbage collector streaming his job on a regular day
• Japanese man going to his local barber, eating out, and taking his viewers to interesting parts of his city
• An Arby’s employee who streams his entire shift

As you can see, IRL is the most flexible and fastest-growing tag yet still provides a way to make money on Twitch.

As long as you go live with your idea and give it your all, you’d be surprised that there will always be a market for anything streamed.

People generally want to be entertained, taught to do things visually, or just get a good laugh from something totally random.

11. “Just chat” with your viewers

A natural offshoot of the IRL category is the “Just Chatting” category.

Just Chatting videos are exactly what they sound like; it’s you just talking to your viewers and subscribers.

You can try to share your views about the latest news about the topic of your streams, educating people about certain issues that are near to your heart, or maybe even just funny stories.

Even merely asking how they are, answering their questions, asking them questions, and at times merely acknowledging your lurkers (i.e., those in the chat, watching but not commenting for various reasons) can increase engagement with your community, keep them coming back, and spread the word to new viewers.

Aside from your regular content on your channel, having a stream under the “Just Chatting” category every once in a while can boost your popularity, and thus your earnings.

12. Cook food (and eat it!)

Another popular non-gaming Twitch category is the Food & Drink category that has all kinds of food prep, meal prep, cooking, baking, and all other videos related to food.

Videos under the former category Social Eating remain tagged as such but seem to have been lumped in this category as well, where streamers eat live on camera and share their meals with the community.

13. Go to work and make money on Twitch

The majority of game streamers on Twitch have some sort of IT-related jobs or skills.

There’s a huge demand for game development tutorials, so if you’ve got the patience, talent, communication skills, and passion to teach programming, coding, web development, photo/video editing, robotics, or any other tech topics, you’re good to go.

Twitch is where it’s at.

This also goes for specific programs.

For example, if you have advanced knowledge of Blender (the 3D modeling software), you can stream how you do things and you’d be surprised at the interest these streams bring.

If you’re under 20, you might want to check out our list of online jobs for teens for some ideas on jobs you could potentially stream from the comfort of your home.

14. Wrestle

If you don’t know it yet, Twitch.TV has been promoting professional wrestling in recent years.

They’ve got several big companies already involved and have partnered with the likes of IMPACT! Wrestling and House of Hardcore to grow a Twitch community around wrestling.

Twitch even joined WrestleCon, giving its partners like Tangent access to stream the slams, dives, and global wrestling action live and share it to other fans.

If you’re a fan, don’t miss Knokx Pro Wrestling Academy’s Twitch channel, where you can watch streamed pro wrestling and listen to the input from the crowds watching to influence matches.

You can definitely get some ideas on how you can run your own wrestling channel there.

Are You Ready To Start Making Money On Twitch?

The best thing about Twitch is that it’s free to use for all. You don’t have to set out to make money on Twitch, but why not create an account, start streaming while you game or do your other activities, build a following, and see what it turns into?

Who knows, you may be the next hottest Twitch streamer!

Are you a Twitch viewer, subscriber, streamer, or all of the above? Were you inspired by any of the ideas above? Share your story in the comments!