Social casinos have been growing in popularity worldwide, including in the UK, alongside the growth of the iGaming industry. The global iGaming market reached an estimated $7.9 billion in 2024, up 8% from 2023. Social casinos have several distinctions from regular online casinos, which makes them broadly appealing and more widely accessible. This article will define social casinos and how they differ from online casinos. Then, it will look at what makes them appealing to so many people worldwide.
What Are Social Casinos?
Social casinos are online gaming sites or apps that allow players to play casino-style games without using real money. Instead, players place bets using virtual currency. Social casinos also offer social components to gameplay, such as leaderboards and the ability to chat with friends while playing.
You’ll find traditional casino games such as poker, roulette, and slots on social casinos, but without the same level of risk. These casinos deliver much of the fun of gambling with far fewer risks.
Many social casinos are accessed through social media platforms like Facebook, though there are also standalone social casinos and apps like Zynga Poker, Slotomania, and Big Fish Casino. Many websites analyse and rank different social casinos if you need a review before committing to playing.
Differences Between Social Casinos and Regular Online Casinos
Despite having ‘casinos’ in their name, social casinos differ from online casinos. The monetary differences between social and regular online casinos are a key difference, but they aren’t the only ones. There are also differences in how social casinos are regulated, as well as in their gameplay and features. Below, we’ll look more closely at these three main differences.
Monetary Aspect
With social casinos, players use virtual currencies and can start playing immediately for free. Each social casino may have a different name for its virtual currency, but in many cases, they’re simply called social coins. These coins allow players to wager and win or lose more coins. Social casinos enable players to buy more of their virtual currency to facilitate gameplay. However, social casinos do not allow players to exchange their virtual currency for real cash.
Regular online casinos operate similarly to land-based casinos. They rely on real cash deposits to facilitate gameplay (except for some no-deposit bonus offers) and offer the potential to win real cash that can be used to further gameplay or withdrawn for real-world use.
Legal and Regulatory Differences
Since social casinos don’t have the same financial risks as regular online casinos, most legal and regulatory standards consider them entirely different types of gaming. Social casinos are viewed purely as games of entertainment or skill rather than a form of gambling. As a result, social casinos have fewer regulations than regular online casinos, making them far more accessible to players. However, some places in the world impose stricter regulations on social casinos due to their similarities to gambling and related potential risks.
Gameplay and Features
Social casinos and regular online casinos also have differences in gameplay and features offered to players. Social casinos tend to provide casual, easy-to-play games that require little skill and feature social elements that further engage players. These social features include leaderboards to compare your results with friends, the ability to send and receive gifts, friend challenges to encourage friendly competition, multiplayer games, and chat or messaging features on the gaming website or app.
In contrast, regular online casinos tend to be far more solitary than their social counterparts. Features like challenges and leaderboards aren’t typically offered. These casinos also have a wide variety of games, from casual games of chance, like slots, to skill-based games, like various versions of poker.
Why Do People Play on Social Casinos?
Social casinos attract many people to their websites or apps for various reasons, including entertainment, fun, and opportunities for learning and skill development.
Entertainment and Fun
Online gaming is wildly engaging, and social casinos enhance this appeal by offering classic casino games with limited financial risk. Social casinos offer a fun way to spend time while connecting with others and forming new relationships. These casinos frequently add new and exciting versions of games, keeping people returning for fresh ways to play. Social casinos also offer rewards and prizes for players as they reach new levels or milestones, which encourage them to return to earn these rewards. They can also simply be a fun and casual way to unwind or relax, providing an escape from daily stressors.
Social Interaction
The social functionalities presented by social casinos also make them more appealing than regular online casinos or even other mobile games. Connecting with friends through the gaming platform makes the games more engaging and can help create a sense of community.
Accessibility and Convenience
The widespread access to social casinos and the ability to access them through social media platforms we’re already using makes playing these games very convenient. You don’t need to set up a new account as you would with a regular online casino, and you also don’t have to worry about the security of your financial information or the longer process of age verification (depending on where you’re playing from). These factors come together to make social casinos convenient and easy to play on anytime and anywhere.
Learning and Skill Development
Another reason people play at social casinos is to enhance their skill set and understanding of the games offered at regular online casinos. Through social casinos, players can learn a game’s rules or test new strategy-based game techniques without risking real cash. This makes them an excellent, stress-free practice arena.
Conclusion
Given the key operational and regulatory differences between social casinos and regular online casinos and their many appeals for casual gamers, it’s easy to see how social casinos have exploded into a multi-billion-dollar industry.
