Over the years, several exciting technological advancements have been made in the online gambling industry. Each of these has helped to create a more exciting environment for players to enjoy. One of the latest new additions to the online gaming world are social casinos. Also known as online Sweepstakes casino free play, these offer players the chance to play games without having to spend any of their own money. Better still, these sites also offer a more social gaming aspect often lacking at traditional online casinos and betting sites.
What are social casino games
These are free-to-play games that are often found on social media platforms such as Facebook, or on sweepstakes casinos. Not only do these types of games include slots and virtual table games, but often these also include crash games like Aviator.
The main difference between social casino games and those found in regular online casinos is that you don’t have to pay money. It’s rather like taking on a demo version of the game to see how it works. However, there is a bonus to playing social casino games as you will be playing them using virtual currency.
Unlike demo games, if you win on social casino games, you win more virtual currency. This means that any virtual currency won on the game is actually added to your social casino account. And subsequently, it can be used to play more games on the site.
Winning prizes
Just because these games do not require real money in order to play, this doesn’t mean players aren’t able to get prizes from them. Far from it in fact. By accumulating a specific number of sweeps coins on a social casino, you can actually claim various prizes. Reaching milestones mean that virtual sweeps coins can be exchanged for cash prizes, tickets, holidays, concert tickets, and more.
How do social casinos work?
However, while it is possible to play all games on a social or sweeps casino without using any of your own money, it’s also possible to use your own funds as well. For instance, when you sign up to the casino, you’ll be awarded a set amount of that social casino’s virtual currency. This enables you to play a range of different social casino games.
However, you can end up running out of this virtual currency if your bets are unlucky. With no more currency to use, you won’t be able to play any of the games. Now, usually there are coin drops on a regular basis, so you can open chests, or get daily login bonuses to top up your virtual currency all over again.
But, if you want currency to play with right away, you can actually purchase more virtual currency coins. Alongside this type of purchase will be sweeps coins. And it’s playing with these sweeps coins that can earn you prizes down the line.
Most social or sweepstakes casinos will have a button for players to toggle back and forth between the two sites — the virtual currency with no prizes, or sweeps with prizes option.
Pros and cons of social games
As with everything, there are good and bad sides to playing at a social casino. For the good points, players can actually interact with one another, checking in to see how they are doing. Players can share their wins with each other, even though there is no monetary gain to the wins. The main plus point is, of course, the lack of any money changing hands. Not having to play with money means not losing it, while players are still able to have some fun on the games.
However, with social casinos offering leaderboards, it can cause players to get competitive against one another. And this is where players may start making extra purchases of the virtual currency in order to keep playing. Additionally, these casinos do not have a cost involved when letting players win. As such, they’re more likely to keep letting players win more often, which can cause players to get hooked.
Essentially, while these casinos are a lot of fun, it’s still sensible to exercise caution when playing. Setting a limit on the time spent playing social casino games is always a good idea.