The Best Social Casinos in the US (2023)
$5,000 Welcome Bonus
While legal sports betting has spread like wildfire throughout the United States (35+ stats and counting have now legalized some form of sports betting!), online casino legislation has not enjoyed the same degree of success and acceptance. Currently only four states, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, have managed to pass iGaming legislation… and it doesn’t look like new states will be joining the fray anytime soon. So where does that leave the rest of the country? Enter: social casinos.
Social casinos are fun, legal, and accepting action right nowin most states. If you’re looking for a safe, legal way to enjoy your favorite online casino games while still experiencing the thrill of hitting it big – the search is over. Continue reading as we breakdown everything that you need to know about social casinos in the United States. What’s the best social casino? How do I claim a social casino bonus? Do social casinos use real money? … and most importantly, are social casinos legal? You’ve got questions, we’ve got the answers.
Best Social Casino Bonuses
From social casino no deposit bonuses, to free sweepstakes coins, to daily log-in rewards and perks – the above list compiles our top social casino bonus offers.
Social Casinos 101: What are they?
While most people have a good understanding of traditional online casinos, there are still a lot of people who are left wondering: what is a social casino? Don’t worry, they’re actually quite simple. Let’s go over the social casino basics.
At their core, social casinos are free-to-play online casinos that players across the country can use to enjoy their favorite casino games. From social casino slots to blackjack, with plenty in-between, social casinos are a route to casino gaming throughout the United States. We repeat, social casinos allow users to play many of the same games that are available on standard online casinos, only you don’t have to be located in one of the few states that have approved iGaming legislation. Free games are conducted using valueless tokens, typically named something like ‘Gold Coins’.
Earning real money on social casinos
While the free social casino games appeal to many, it is possible to earn real money on a social casino. This is done through making a purchase within your chosen social casino’s cashier.
When making a purchase with a social casino you are exchanging your money for the valueless ‘Gold Coins’ that can be used in the free social casino, however, the Gold Coins also come with a gift. Typically, social casino players are gifted with one SC (Sweeps Coin / Sweepstakes Coin) per dollar on their purchase. So for example, a $10 purchase of Gold Coins may result in 10 Sweeps Coins being credited to the users account.
Free social casino games are offered in Gold Coins (play money), but they are also offered in Sweeps Coins (SC). Meaning you can play slots, table games, and other exciting casino games with tokens that do hold value. Should you win, or decide you don’t want to play anymore, you can redeem your Sweeps Coins with the Social Casino for a prize. The prize? Well, its cash – and the exchange rate is generally 1SC = $1USD. So if you win 10SC playing your favorite social slot, you can redeem those coins for a $10 profit.
Social casino currencies: Free Coins vs Sweepstakes Coins
All US social casinos will have two separate currencies that they spread casino games in: one will be a valueless token (like Gold Coins or Wow Coins), while the other, always abbreviated as “SC”, holds the same value as $1 USD.
Free social casino coins: Gold Coins
Gold Coins, Wow Coins, or other similarly branded coins are the free-to-play token used for social casino games. These coins have no cash value, and cannot be redeemed for a prize. They can, however, be used to play in any of your casino’s many popular titles. No matter how many you accumulate, or how large the social casino jackpot you hit is, they cannot be converted to real money.
Gold Coins, however, are a necessary part of the social casino ecosystem, as you can’t add your social casino’s other, coin to your account without first purchasing these play money coins. With each purchase of these ‘free coins’, players will receive a ‘purchase benefit’, or ‘gift’ consisting of the far more valuable Sweepstakes Coin (more on these below). If we look at the Pulsz Casino offering below, each USD purchase generally equates to a purchase benefit of the same number of Sweepstakes Coins. $49.99 = SC 50. $99.99 = SC 100, etc.
Social casino sweepstakes coins (SC)
Sweepstakes Coins, also known as Sweeps Coins on some casino sites, do have cash value. Each SC can be redeemed at the rate of SC 1 = $1 USD. Sweepstakes Coins are always awarded as a gift with any purchase of the social casino’s free coins (Gold Coin / Wow Coin), as discussed above. Social casino Sweepstakes Coins cannot be purchased directly, they are always tacked on as a purchase benefit.
All of the best social casinos in the United States will offer games in both their free coins, and in these Sweepstakes Coins (SC). Win or lose, it’s possible to redeem your SC for cash at any time. So if you hit a social casino jackpot and end up with SC 5000 in your account, you could redeem those coins for $5,000 in actual cash.
Top Social Casinos in 2023
Social casino’s are popping up across the internet. With so many options to choose from, how do you narrow down the best social casinos? Luckily, we’ve put in the leg work by checking them out for you. Below we’ve compiled the top social casinos in the United States:
- WowVegas Casino
- Chumba Casino
- Fortune Coin Casino
- LuckyLand Slots
- Stake.us Casino
- bSpot Casino
- Hard Rock Social Casino
- Wind Creek Social Casino
- Global Poker
Pulsz Casino
Availasble currently in a whopping 47 states, Pulsz Casino is one of our favorite social casinos in the marketplace today. The Pulsz Casino mobile app is a major hit. It’s easy to download and get started with, and the available social slots work extremely well on the mobile platform. For those that like to play on their computer, the desktop site is well equipped as well.
Pulsz has two currencies: Gold Coins are the valueless token used for free social casino games, while Sweepstakes Coins (SC) are what you’ll really want to get your hands on. Each SC can be redeemed for $1 on Pulsz Casino.
All new Pulsz Casino customers can claim a few free Sweepstakes Coins just for creating their account, and they offer daily log-in rewards to boot. Similarly, we’ve arranged a special sign up offer where new users can secure up to 30 free Sweepstakes Coins on Pulsz Casino with their first purchase. This is one of the best social casino bonuses available.
WowVegas Casino
What’s not to like about WowVegas? The immensely popular social casino has a terrific selection of social casino games, an absolutely loaded promotional schedule, tons of purchase-method options, and we’ve even got an exclusive social casino bonus to tack on top.
Purchases can be made on WowVegas using a variety of payment methods including:
- Credit Cards (American Express, Visa, MasterCard)
- Apple Pay
- Skrill
- Trustly
In making a purchase on WowVegas you will be directly buying Wow Coins (WC), their free token. As the added gift you will receive the infinitely more valuable Sweepstakes Coins (SC). Not ready to make a purchase yet? You can actually pocket free SC on WowVegas just by creating the account. It won’t be a lot, but it’s something! If you’re looking for a place to start your journey in social gaming, WowVegas is undoubtedly one of the best social casinos out there.
Chumba Casino
Chumba Casino is the biggest name currently in the social casino game. You may have seen picture advertisements for the brand pasted across your Facebook feed featuring happy people hoisting giant checks from Chumba Casino. Overall? We get it. Chumba offers a great product. It’s easy to use, has plenty of games to choose from, and is accessible in many states throughout the country. Chumba offers slots, jackpot slots, table games, slingo, and more.
The two currencies maintained on Chumba Casino are Gold Coins (free) and Sweeps Coins ($1 in value).
Fortune Coin Casino
Fortune Coin is another top social casino that’s available to players in the United States and Canada. They offer an enviable collection of slots, table games, and their unique ‘fish games’ that include titles like ‘Emily’s Treasure’.
Fortune Coin Casino offers two different types of currencies. Gold Coins is the traditional free-use coin that has no cash value, while their more valuable coins is known as Fortune Coins (FC). Notably, while most social casino sites allow players to redeem these tokens at a rate of $1 USD to 1 Coin, on Fortune Coin Casino, the exchange rate is 100 – 1. 100 Fortune Coins = $1 USD. Keep this in mind when making your initial Fortune Coin Casino purchases.
It’s possible to claim free Fortune Coins when signing up, though to really stock your account a deposit will be required.
LuckyLand Slots
LuckyLand Slots is a slots-focused online social casino. The themes are fun, the colors bold, and the descriptions of each game are a nice feature – but overall it is not our favorite social casino of the bunch. While the titles they do have are cool, evolved games, there just aren’t that many to choose from. What’s more, we found the website to be slow, and it even timed out on occasion which isn’t ideal.
LuckyLand has adopted a pretty standard Gold Coin (GC) for free games, Sweeps Coin (SC) for redeemable prizes currency structure.
Stake.us Casino
Fancy website? Check. High profile partnerships with the likes of premier league football clubs, the UFC, Alfa Romeo F1, and even international super star Drake? Also check. Exciting social casino games and lucrative promotions? Check! Notably, Stake.us has a lot going for it in the social casino space. However, where it may fall short for some is in its banking methods. Stake.us is a crypto-based social casino.
For those experienced with cryptocurrency, this won’t be a problem. However, if you’ve yet to dabble with crypto, there may be a learning curve. Stake.us currently offers redemptions not in USD, but in Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Tron, Ripple, Dogecoim, Bitcoin Cash, and Tether.
The free-to-play casino tokens on Stake.us are branded as the familiar ‘Gold Coins’, however, while the abbreviation remains the same, SC, the more valuable, redeemable-for-crypto coin is Stake Cash. At any point you may redeem the Stake Cash in your account for the cryptocurrency of your choosing.
Daily log-in rewards and even free Stake Cash is available for new players.
Notably, Stake.us does offer live social casino games like live roulette, live baccarat, and live blackjack where you can play with a real dealer over a video stream.
How we evaluated the best social casinos
While we’ve summarized the top social casinos above, you might be wondering how we landed on these specific sites? What criteria were we looking for? Generally speaking we were closely checking on the following:
Game options and software
How many social casino games are offered? How do they play? What’s the software like and is there a social casino mobile app available?
Bonuses and promotions
Social casino bonus offers and added promotions can make the site. We gave extra credit to social casino sites that allow opportunities for players to claim free Sweeps Coins, but that wasn’t the only determining factor. Does the social casino have race leaderboards? Or even a VIP program? VIP services are very popular in social casino circles so if you don’t have a good program, you won’t stand out.
Customer service
While online social casinos are legitimate, well run businesses – there will ultimately come a time when you need to ask a question. What options does your social casino present for those looking for answers?
Email support is pretty typical, but ideally we’d see all of the following social casino customer service options:
Payment methods
Payment methods can vary when buying coins for your chosen social casino app. Most sites accept credit cards including:
- Visa
- Mastercard
- American Express
- Discover
- Prepaid Cards
Social casinos that offer though, stand out from the crowd.
- Bank transfers with a service like Trustly
- PayPal
- Skrill
- Apple Pay
Some sites even allow players to redeem their coins for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and more.
Safety and trustworthiness
At the end of the day, the most important aspect of social casino gaming is that you are safe and protected while you play. If you can’t trust your social casino, you shouldn’t be playing there – period. Where is the sweepstakes casino registered? Licensed? Do they offer responsible gambling resources? What’s their privacy policy? All of these are important factors to consider.
Social casino game libraries
Social casinos offer a full suite of online casino games. Game types include:
- Social casino slots
- Jackpot slots
- Table games
- Blackjack
- Baccarat
- Roulette
- Texas Hold’em Poker
- Live dealer games
- … and more
Live dealer social casino games
Live dealer casino games are a new innovation that allow players to enjoy the fun and feel of a true, authentic casino experience from the comfort of home (or anywhere you can access the app!). While common on real money casino sites, they are a rarity when it comes to social casinos. Currently just Stake.us offers Live social casino games. They currently spread:
- Live Dealer Roulette
- Live Dealer Blackjack
- Live Dealer Baccarat
Social casinos vs Online casinos
Social casinos and online casinos offer many of the same game types and both allow users to earn real money… so what’s the difference? Well, it all comes down to what you are betting with. On a traditional online casino in a state like Michigan, Pennsylvania, or New Jersey, you’ll be wagering with actual US dollars that you have deposited in to your account. When playing on a social casino you can’t deposit funds into your account, you can only purchase the valueless ‘Gold Coins’, which come with a complimentary Sweepstakes Coins gift. The Sweepstakes Coins (SC) do have cash value, and you can gamble with them in the social casino which means you can win or lose money, but it’s not quite the same as playing with real cash.
Online casinos aren’t widely available in the United States
Currently only Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania offer some sort of regulated, real money online casino gaming. Sadly this covers just a small fraction of the United States. For the majority of Americans who live outside of these areas that are seeking some sort of casino action, social casinos are the way to play.
Social casinos are open to anyone 18+
Interestingly enough, online social casinos in the United States typically set their age requirement at just 18+ years old. In contrast, real money online casinos are 21+ establishments. If you aren’t 21, you can’t gamble with them or even set up an account. However, social casinos are more accessible in this way. So if you live in a casino state like New Jersey and want to play, you can download a social casino app and take part.
As we discuss gambling for younger players, I would be remiss not to mention that if you, or someone you know may have a gambling problem, 1-800-GAMBLER is available 24/7.
Conclusion: best real money social casino
Taking into account all of the most important factors, we’ve landed on non other than Pulsz Casino as our top social casino currently in 2023. Why? While it does not have live social casino games, it’s got just about everything else you could hope for. Making a purchase is simple, redemptions are easy, the software and betting app work great, and there are plenty of games to choose from. Their collection of social casino slots is up there with the best in the business. Plus, they treat their customers right. In addition to our 30 free SC welcome offer, Pulsz gives away free Sweepstakes Coins to all new users just for signing up.
We also liked that you can easily toggle the entire site or app back and forth between the dark theme or a lighter theme. It’s this level of customization that sets it apart from the rest of the social casino competition.
The social casino space remains a competitive industry – check back often to see if our “best social casino app” has changed. We’ll keep you posted.
