Online gaming has become a social life for millions of people around the world. Gaming was once an individual activity, playing games sat at a computer at home without any interaction with other people. The introduction of the internet soon changed gaming for good and playing games on a computer or mobile device has become a social event. Social gaming has since expanded and blurred into online gambling, more of which we will find out below.
Social Gaming
Video games have become a wonderful way for people to interact with others without leaving their home. If you are at home one evening, you could load up a video game on a computer or mobile phone and play along with other people from around the world. Many video games allow players to openly chat with the other participants and some games are built with socialising in mind, using a headset.
Communication between team members is a crucial element of many of the popular online gaming titles but there are other types of online gaming where the communication is more about having an enjoyable chat with friends.
Social Casinos
Social or sweepstakes casinos are legal in the United States because they offer a way to play online casino games without the opportunity to win real money. There is no real money used to play the games when using an online social casino and it is not possible to win real money if successful when playing the games. When signing up for a sweepstakes casino, you do not have to deposit any money. You can earn free sweepstakes currency via several methods and most social casinos will offer a significant bonus when you join.
There is also the opportunity to buy sweepstakes coins if you run out, but you cannot use real money when playing the games. There are many top online sweepstake casinos such as Pulsz where you can play free casino games for fun in the US and claim a fantastic welcome bonus.
Social Gaming and Online Gambling
When assessing the games available at online social casinos, they look and feel much the same as regular online casinos. For those who are relatively new to playing online casino games, you will not see any difference between the two but there is a more social and fun aspect to playing social casino games compared to regular online casino games.
However, despite offering free ways to play casino games without using real money, it is possible to buy sweeps coins for real money and this is where social gaming begins to meet online gambling. Even if you have no intention of trying to win any money playing social casino games, you can spend money on the coins required to play the games. In addition, if you win a lot of coins when playing at sweepstakes casinos, you can choose to exchange them for real money when you have finished playing.
As you can redeem the sweeps coins back for real money, this is where the gap between social gaming and online gambling begins to blur. You will not have the opportunity to win the same, life changing sums of money on offer at a regular online casino when playing at a social casino but the chance to win money by exchanging sweeps coins is still there, adding the feeling of gambling to the games.
It is important to remember, sweepstakes casinos are designed with the social element of gaming in mind. However, there is the exchange of real money available should you choose and that is where social gaming meets online gambling.