To say that business is booming for the online casino industry is like saying carrots are orange. While online casinos have been around for thirty years, the past ten to twelve years have seen some of the most exciting and meteoric growth the industry has ever seen. With the door wide open and online casino fever at an all-time high, social casinos continue to shine and push the iGaming envelope.
If you’re new to the social casino world, don’t worry. This guide gives you all the tools to master the exciting and growing world of social casinos.
Understanding Social Casinos
On the surface, social casinos share many similarities with real money casinos. For the most part, social casino members can play all the latest slot games and more. However, the fundamental difference is that social casinos can’t accept direct cash bets to operate. Instead, most sweepstakes casinos use the gold and sweepstakes coins system to interact with the games.
With the gold coins, players can play all of the social casino games for free. Playing free games helps players better understand the game and allows them to develop a sound and winning betting strategy while keeping their wallets closed.
With sweepstakes coins, players compete for cash prizes like gift cards. To encourage sweepstakes play, social casinos encourage their members to purchase gold coins, which come with a fair amount of sweepstakes coins with them.
The Redemption Process
Because social casinos can’t accept cash, players can’t withdraw money like they would from a traditional online casino. Instead, players go through the “redemption process,” where they convert their sweepstakes coins into gift cards. Most social casinos require their members to wager at least 50 sweepstakes coins at least once to qualify for a gift card of the same value. However, that value can be higher.
Also, most social casinos support converting the sweepstakes coins directly into cash at a 1:1 ratio. Because of this, the wagering requirements are usually higher, with a 100-coin minimum. To receive the converted coins, sweepstakes casinos have smaller options. However, they are trying to make up ground by adding new options like PayPal.
Evaluating a Social Casino
Social casinos are unique for a variety of reasons. The truth is, most don’t have an official license like a traditional real money casino. However, to operate legally, most social casinos at least agree to a similar framework from the state gaming agencies. Still, most reputable social casinos are at least regulated by eCOGRA, which is the organization that provides fair and honest gaming results.
Another great way to evaluate social casinos is by their social media profiles. To lure new members and to keep their existing members, social casinos like to integrate their official social media channels with the social casino experience. As a result, members can receive a nearly limitless supply of free coins to participate. Checking the social media profiles to get a pulse about what other members are saying is a fine way to learn more. And if the social casino has official apps, taking a few moments to read the Google and Apple app reviews is another way to learn a thing or two.
The Social Casino Bonuses
To compete against their real money counterparts, the top social casinos offer a steady flow of daily bonuses. To start new members off, a no-deposit worth sometimes hundreds of thousands of free gold coins is the offer that new members can’t refuse. As an added incentive, social casinos allow new members to purchase optional welcome packages to enhance the no-deposit bonuses.
The crown jewel for the social casino bonuses is the daily login bonus. It doesn’t get easier than logging into your account and picking up heaps of free gold coins with sweepstakes coins.
