Millions of players connect daily to their online casino accounts to play a few spins on their favourite slot machine or a few hands of blackjack or baccarat. Some casino players do this in hopes of winning some extra cash, but the majority are looking for a special type of entertainment. But it’s not only mobile casinos that attract a large player base: social casino apps are also top-rated. With no real money wins in store for their players, why are social casino apps still popular? Let’s take a look at a few reasons.
The most popular social casino games
There are quite a few casino games available on iOS that promise their players real cash wins. In turn, there is no such thing on Android – Google has strict policies against apps that deal in real money games. Still, social casino games are popular on this platform, too. This shows that real-money wins are different from the reason why they are played.
And some of them have a long history, too. Slotomania, the most successful social casino game so far, was launched by developer Playtika in 2011 – it’s old enough to have had a Windows Phone version! Its popularity has been unbroken ever since, although its player base has diminished due to the increased availability of the real thing in North America. MyVegas is another veteran, launched in 2013. Both of them are still among the most downloaded and most played casual games today.
Why are casino games so popular?
Most casino games are in many ways similar to casual and hyper-casual games. They are simple games with easy-to-learn rules that you can start playing instantly in most cases. On top of that, they are colourful, and captivating, with a huge variety of themes and formats. Still, most of them look and feel similar, making it very easy to switch from one game to another.
Plus, they provide players with instant gratification. It has been shown that winning on a slot machine triggers positive responses in the brain (this is what makes these games so addictive) so playing them can be a pleasurable experience for some people.
Social casino games are the best of both worlds
An online casino offers players the opportunity to play their games free of charge. But when playing them, they don’t feel like playing for a stake – all they need to do is refresh and they have their budget reset. Social casinos, in turn, offer their players a limited amount of chips free of charge, making them a limited resource. This makes winning at them an experience far superior to simply playing free slots online – it comes with the thrill of taking a risk without actually spending any money. In short, the best of both worlds: the thrill of taking a risk without actually doing so.
Casino games are popular among players both in a real money and a social setting. If their popularity can be explained by the possibility of winning money in the first case, there’s something else that makes social casinos popular: the fact that casino games are fun to play even when there is no real money involved.
