What is social sports betting?
Social sports betting is bigger than ever, and it’s a great alternative to regular sports betting with your own cash. The fact that there is no real money gambling involved means that there is no risk.
Rather than betting with money, social sportsbooks will let you use virtual currencies as stakes. These virtual currencies are generally given away for free, and they usually come in the form of Gold Coins and Sweepstakes Coins.
While each social betting site will have its quirks, they should usually just function like regular online sportsbooks, only that you play at them with virtual currencies.
This means that you will see a range of betting lines for major sports like football, basketball, hockey, baseball and so on. You can then browse the odds for the moneyline, spread, totals and props and just make a bet with your virtual credit, rather than your own cash.
Can you win real money on social betting apps?
No, you cannot directly win money when using a social betting app. Despite this, it’s worth noting that you can get some pretty cool prizes for taking part in the sweepstakes.
If you play with the Sweepstakes Coins form of virtual currency and win enough back, you may be able to redeem them for a variety of real-world prizes.
Just note that the Gold Coins form of virtual currency can only be used to play for fun, meaning that no prizes can be redeemed.
Best social betting apps up close
There are lots of excellent apps out there that you can use for social sports betting and we have picked the best below in these mini-reviews:
Sportzino – Enjoy social betting on 40+ sports here
Pros and cons of Sportzino
- Over 40 sports
- 500+ casino games
- Massive welcome offer
- Top daily login bonus
Sportzino gives all new customers a very warm welcome thanks to its sign up bonus of 170,000 Gold Coins and seven Sweeps Coins. The Gold Coins are used to enjoy social betting for fun, while the Sweeps Coins can be redeemed for real-world prizes.
There are well over 40 sports featured here and you can even enjoy over 500 casino games from quality developers. While the lack of a VIP program might be disappointing, the fact that you can get free credit via daily login bonuses should ensure that you can always enjoy superior social betting here.
Sportzino Social Casino Bonus
Get up to 10 SC FREE + 220,000 Gold Coins
Requirements (WR):
1x Bonus
Thrillzz – Brand new social betting app
Pros and cons of Thrillzz
- Useful welcome offer
- Good range of betting lines
- Cash prizes redeemable
- Includes college sports
- No desktop social betting
This app gives you a great way to enjoy social betting on prematch and live odds for anything from the NFL and NBA through to college sports, soccer and even UFC fighting. You’ll find a familiar range of points spreads here alongside player props and a whole lot more.
Sign up to Thrillzz for the first time and you could $3 in free Coins as well as a 100% first purchase bonus that is optional. Plus with the ability to pick up loyalty points and redeem cash prizes, we can imagine many more sports fans signing up here.
Thrillzz Social Casino Bonus
100% match up to $25 in Coins + $3 Free Coins
Fliff – Market leading social sportsbook
Pros and cons of Fliff
- Redeem cash prizes
- Vast range of betting lines
- Free coins every two hours
- User-friendly app
- Only available in certain states
Everyone knows that Fliff is one of the pioneering social sportsbooks and so it’s no surprise that you can get its app and enjoy quality betting on dozens of sports. Not only that, but it looks like Fliff serves up well over 100 betting lines for elite-level sporting events.
The brand has conjured up a decent welcome offer that will give you $500 in Fliff Coins for spending $100 and you will also get up to $5 in free credit each day. Plus with XP leaderboard challenges and free coins every two hours, you should have plenty of fun here.
Real Prize Social Casino Bonus
Up to 125 SC FREE + 625K Golden Coins + 1250 VIP Points
How to bet with social betting apps
Social sports betting is just like the real thing, only that you use virtual currencies rather than your own cash. But just in case you have never made an online bet before, here is how you can use a social betting app to bet on your favorite sports:
- Pick one of the social sportsbooks listed here
- Download their social betting app from the Google Play store or the App Store
- Create an account by filling in the registration form with your personal information
- Get your free credit via the welcome offer
- Browse the social betting odds by swiping your way through the lines
- Tap on the odds to have them added to your bet slip
- Select whether you want to bet with either Gold Coins or Sweepstakes Coins
- Enter your virtual stake and submit your bet
Social betting vs real money betting
Of course, there might be some people who aren’t convinced about the appeal of social sports betting in comparison to betting with real money. So here is a quick rundown of the pros of social betting rather than its real money counterpart:
Pros and cons of social sports betting
- Legal in most states
- Free to play
- Less risk involved
- Redeem cash prizes
What special features do social betting apps offer?
There is so much more to social betting apps than just giving you the ability to bet on sports for free. Here are some of the other things that you can enjoy doing from the convenience of your smartphone or tablet:
- PvP betting: A growing number of social betting apps will now let you set your own odds for any sporting encounter and then challenge a friend to a one-versus-one showdown.
- Community chats: Here you can chat alongside other players as you enjoy social sports betting. While it can get fiery, it’s a great way to add an extra dimension to the action.
- Tournaments: Most social betting apps will also have their own tournaments where you just have to make more successful predictions than anyone else to get a share of a big prize pool.
How we rate social betting apps
You’ll find nearly as many social betting apps out there as
social casino apps, and that’s saying something. So here are the key criteria we used when judging a social betting app before recommending it to you:
Obviously any good social betting app will have odds for the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL, but we expect much more than that. This is why we look for odds for soccer, golf, boxing, tennis, UFC and pretty much any other major or minor sports.
You will want a lot of flexibility in how you bet on your favorite sports. So we’d expect prematch and live odds for the money line, spread, totals, and all of those promos. Plus there’s nothing like a parlay social bet for adding a few fireworks.
We will be checking to see what kinds of promos you can get for downloading that social betting app. Plus we’ll see what kinds of deals you can get as an existing customer. After all, you should always be able to play those sweepstakes with no purchase required.
Your social betting will get a whole lot more fun when you know that you can redeem some prizes at the end. This is why we will see what the prize redemption process is like and reveal whether you can redeem cash prizes, gift cards, cryptos or even some fancy branded merchandise.
We will obviously take a good long look at which states the social sportsbook is allowed to operate in. Plus we will outline what steps the brand takes to keep your personal information and payments under lock and key.
What if a social sportsbook doesn’t have an app?
We’ve found that many of the
best betting sites don’t have an app. Some of these will have generous bonuses, and tick all of the boxes in our checklist of what makes a great social betting platform; so, we don’t think we should overlook them entirely.
For that reason, if an operator has a mobile-friendly website, and they don’t feel like they need an app, you’ll find them rated and reviewed if we feel they make the grade. With these sites, you’ll already know that you’ll get the full range of services on offer, including quality social betting odds, as well as the
top social casino games, and you can also run your account entirely from your phone or tablet.
Conclusion – Enjoy using a social betting app
After reading this guide, you’ll know that the process of finding the right social sports betting app doesn’t have to be a long and drawn-out process, full of trial and error and frustration. This is because you can use the reviews and comparisons on this site to do the hard work for you and save you from wasting your time downloading apps that are not fit for purpose.
You’ll also know that some of the best ways to place social sports bets might not be on apps at all and that some social casinos have websites that work so well on mobile devices they don’t need an app. Finally, you will have seen how using the resources here at Thegruelingtruth.com can help you, and there are plenty more guides like this one available.
Our top social casinos for January
1.
Up to 125 SC FREE + 625K Golden Coins + 1250 VIP Points
Players from Virginia accepted
2.
$55 Stake Cash + 260K Gold Coins + 5% Rakeback
Players from Virginia accepted
3.
35 SC FREE and 1.75M WOW Coins
Players from Virginia accepted
4.
150% Purchase Offer: 25 SC FREE and 50K GC
Players from Virginia accepted
5.
27.5 SC FREE and 57.5K Gold Coins
Players from Virginia accepted
Social betting apps FAQ
💡 Which is the best social betting app?
We’d recommend starting out with some of the brands featured in our guide like Fliff, Thrillzz and Sportzino. Each of these sites have something unique to offer and they even offer you rewards just like those
social casinos that pay real money
redeemable prizes.
💰 Do social betting apps have welcome bonuses?
Yes, they do. Each of the social sports betting apps featured in our guide have welcome offers that give you plenty of virtual credit to make your predictions with.
📲 Where do I download the best social betting apps?
We have found that all of the best social betting apps can be downloaded for free from either the Apple App Store or the Google Play store.
