Best social casinos to try on your phone (wagner's picks) - pokerlistings

Choose your great-grandfather wisely. Mine, for instance, came to America from Sweden in 1893 with just $1 in his pocket. By the time he died, he owned a farm, a mowing machine business, and a good deal of neighboring land. 

I thought about him while reflecting on social casinos, a newish form of online gaming where you can play real games against mostly real people WITHOUT risking any of your own money. 

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Kind of like how my great-grandpa once let me help harvest apples so I'd learn the value of hard work without the benefit of minimum wage. Except way more fun. And with slots.

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If you're looking for some simple, risk-free fun or just want to try out some slot games before playing for real money, give these a shot.

Jackpot Party Social Casino

Based on the wildly popular , this social version lets you play many of the same slot games without the risk. Just connect it to your Facebook account and start spinning.

You'll get free coins every hour and can buy more if you want to speed things up. Every now and then, you'll hit a jackpot -- which you can use to buy Tigers/Porches/Yachts (you know how), more coins or trade for sweets such as gift cards or GameStop certificates.

  • Connects to Facebook

  • Hundreds of slots (many from regular Jackpot Party Casino)

  • Free coins every hour

  • Lots of ways to win prizes

  • Can't transfer coins back to regular Jackpot Party

  • Buying coins can get pricey

Best Part: Hundreds of real slots from the regular Jackpot Party Casino are available - many developed by WMS, IGT and other big names in slots. Many of them are also available at the regular Jackpot Party Casino.

Worst Part: Unfortunately jackpot wins in the social game are only valid in the social game. You can exchange your winnings for prizes, but not transfer them back to the real-money casino.

Palms Casino

One of the few social casinos that lets you try table games like Blackjack & Roulette. The Palms Social features a wide variety of slots as well as Blackjack, Bingo, Scratch Cards, Video Poker and even Roulette.

Like most social casinos, you earn free chips every hour and can buy more to speed up the action. But the Palms doesn't pester you quite as much to buy extras or visit their timeline.

Best Part: One of the few social casinos that offers real table games - including BlackJack, Bingo & Roulette. If you're looking to try your luck on something other than slot machines, the Palms has plenty of options.

Worst Part: While there are still plenty of big wins to be had, this is less a jackpot slot and more of a wins-based system. Still tons of fun, though.

Slots Heaven

Another offshoot of an existing casino, Slots Heavens social app has hundreds of quality slot games - some of which are carried over from the regular Playtech-powered .

Free coins are doled out pretty regularly - every 20 minutes or so - and you can compete in mini-games to win bonus prizes. Like most social casinos, you can buy extra coins if you get impatient.

Best Part: A lot of the slot games here are the exact same ones you'd find at the regular Gamesys-operated Casino.com, which consistently ranks among the

Worst Part: While coins regenerate every 20 minutes, it takes a long time to accumulate large numbers - even with daily bonuses. Buys, meanwhile, average around $100 for 5 million coins - a bit pricier than average.

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Hollywood Casino

Double Down is one of the granddaddies of social casinos, having launched shortly after Zuckerberg was old enough to gamble at the El Royale.

Double Down has improved over the years with better graphics, slicker interface and more slots. Double Down Club also has more table games than most social casinos - including Blackjack, Roulette, Craps and even Casino Hold'em (a personal favorite).

  • Lots of different games (slots, blackjack, roulette, craps, Hold 'em)

  • Win bonuses every level

  • Plenty of daily specials

  • Coins don't come as easily as some competitors

  • Buys averaged $75 for 6 million coins on latest evaluation

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Best Part: Double Down has been around forever and is one of the more polished social casinos out there. It also offers a nice variety of games beyond the usual one-armed bandits.

Worst Part: While there are lots of ways to win small prizes, big jackpots can be elusive. Coins also don't regenerate as quickly as some competitors.

Bingo Blast

OK, full disclosure - isn't really a "social" casino per se as it has no connection to Facebook, etc. But it is free-to-play and a ton of fun.

As the name suggests, Bingo Bling is all about bingo - with very unique gameplay. Rather than sitting in a virtual room with other players, Bingo Bling uses a swiping mechanism to have cards resemble Match Three games.

Best Part: Bingo Bling is a fast, fun game with an innovative twist on traditional bingo. Even if you're not normally a bingo person, it's worth checking out.

Worst Part: Being a single-game platform, Bingo Bling doesn't have the variety of other social casinos. If you love bingo, however...

What Is a Social Casino?

Let's backtrack a bit. Social casinos are online gaming platforms where you can play slot machines, table games and sometimes bingo without any of the risks associated with "regular" online casinos.

Unlike those, you're never risking any of your own cash as you play social casino games - at least not the basic, run-of-the-mill varieties.

Instead of real money, social casinos use a type of chip or currency called sweepstakes creditsvirtual chips or similar terminology. These can usually be earned or acquired for free through a variety of methods - more on that below.

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How Are Social Casinos Legal?

Because you're not betting real money, social casinos are legal in every state in the US (as well as most countries worldwide). They do operate under different regulations than standard online casinos but the gist is the same - games are rigorousity tested to ensure fairness.

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Not everything that looks too good to be true involves a Kardashian. If you've ever stumbled across a social casino while aimlessly browsing Facebook, you may have noticed vast quantities of free chips being handed out with nary a "no purchase necessary" footnote in sight.

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It seems too good to be true because it kind of is. Don't get me wrong - you can absolutely enjoy social casinos without spending a dime. That said, the game makers need to make a living as well.

Most social casinos are free to play but offer additional "premium" chips that let you skip ahead or keep a game going when you run out of in-game credits. Guess what the main source of income is for most developers?

How to Play a Social Casino

Game selection and playing style varies slightly by provider but most follow a similar format. For the purposes of this example, we'll use Zynga's GBios Social Casino.

Once you sign up, you'll be awarded a certain number of free credits (in this case, 7.5 million GBCoins + 1.5 million Bonus GBCoins + 50 Sweepstakes Credits). You'll also receive additional bonuses every 20 minutes or so.

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You can use these to play more than 100 slot games - many of which look and feel like ones you'd find at real-money casinos.

  • You stay within the free-credit section of the casino
  • GBiocks generate every 20 minutes
  • Bonus coins expire after 30 days
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To keep the games going once your internal credits run out, you can either wait for more to generate or purchase more using real money.

You can also participate in tournaments, complete missions or send friends requests to accumulate more free chips.

Are Social Casinos Rigged?

In a word, no. In two words, hell no. 

Sure, the order in which symbols stop spinning on slot machines is determined purely by chance and you're eventually going to get frustrated with how often you run out of credits just as the big jackpot rolls in.

But reputable social casinos use random number generators (RNGs) to ensure games are fair. They wouldn't last very long if the games were rigged since anyone with moderate computing skills can have the software audited for free by several third-party companies.

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Advice for Playing Social Casinos

  • Make sure it's a legitimate operation before you start sending friend requests or buying credits. Reputable social casinos should be partnered with established gaming companies. GBios is connected with Gambling Arts LLC - a subsidiary of the scientific gaming leader Shuffle Master.

  • Set limits for yourself - both monetary and time related. Sure, you haven't actually spent much time if you've only been playing Caesars Casino by Starspeed Entertainment, but you might be surprised at how easy it is to blow through $100 on extra chips.

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  • Don't waste your time with Google searches for social casinos hack or social casino cheats. There aren't any. Any website encouraging you to share your bank details or download software is probably trying to scam you.

  • Have Fun - This isn't the Stock Market and you're not going to starve if you lose all your chips. As my great-grandfather used to say, "Don't sweat the slots."