What Is a Social Sportsbook?
A social sportsbook is a fun and free version of a sportsbook, available in pretty much every state in the US. You can play social gambling games that mirror traditional real money bets, including games that resemble moneylines, point spreads, totals and parlays.
As you can probably guess from the name, the social side of things is a big part of social sports betting and is normally built into both the software and the overall experience. You can do things like add your friends, challenge them to one-on-one contests, chat with other players in the community and more - none of which is really part of traditional sports betting.
Social sportsbooks are a cousin of social casinos, and if you’ve ever played at a social or sweepstakes casino online before, you’ll have an idea of how they work.
How do Social Sportsbooks Work
Like other social gambling sites, social sportsbooks use virtual currencies to compete in picking games or gambling contests. Often, they are known as Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins, but some sites have their own in-house names. For instance, at Fliff, Fliff Coins are the equivalent of Gold Coins and Fliff Cash is the equivalent of Sweeps Coins.
For the purposes of this page and explaining how the model works, we’ll stick to Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins.
Gold Coins are the basic currency at social sportsbooks. You can get GC for free in lots of ways: when you sign up, through daily login bonuses, social media giveaways and other promos. If you run out of your free supply or you just want to top up your account, you can also purchase additional Gold Coins.
Gold Coins’ only function is playing the games on each respective social sportsbook and trying to win more for fun. No matter how many you win, you can’t redeem them for prizes, cash them out or use them for anything else.
Sweeps Coins are a little different. While Gold Coins are associated with playing in social mode or regular mode, Sweeps Coins are used to play in sweepstakes mode or promotional mode.
Like GC, you can get Sweeps Coins for free in all the ways described above. You can even sometimes send a written request for more Sweeps Coins via mail, which is an important aspect of the sweepstakes model. You will also often receive Sweeps Coins as part of a free bonus if you decide to purchase Gold Coins.
The important thing about Sweeps Coins is that you can never purchase them. They can only ever be received as a free bonus.
Redeeming Prizes
Sweeps Coins can be redeemed for prizes, including gift cards and cash that gets transferred to your bank account. This is the other major difference between Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins.
There are certain terms and conditions that need to be fulfilled before you can request a redemption. For one thing, you can normally only redeem Sweeps Coins that you have won through playing the picking games at social sportsbooks, not SC that you have received as a free bonus. Or, to look at it another way, every Sweeps Coin you get for free has 1x wagering requirements attached.
Sweeps Coins are often redeemable at a rate of $1 per SC1. You need to accumulate a certain number of SC before you can request a redemption, often 50 or 100.
Are Social Sportsbooks Legal?
Yes, social sportsbooks are totally legal. Social sportsbooks are very different from traditional real money sportsbooks, from a legal point of view. There is no real money gambling at social sportsbooks, meaning they don’t need a gambling license and are free to exist in states that haven’t legalized sports betting or online gambling.
That’s not to say that there is no regulation or oversight with social sportsbooks, just that they are in a different legal category. The format of Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins - the fact that you can never purchase the latter and that you can send written request via mail for extra coins - is also part of how the sweepstakes model works.
The availability of specific social sportsbooks varies, but some form of social sports betting and social casino games are available at every single state in the US, with the exception of Washington.
Social Sportsbooks vs. Regular Sportsbooks
In general, social sportsbooks are very different from regular sportsbooks, but they do share a couple of similarities. We’ll start with the former.
You can’t bet with real money at social sportsbooks or win real money. Everything is done through virtual currencies, which can always be obtained for free. Legally, social sportsbooks and regular sportsbooks are totally different. Social sports betting is not a form of gambling and is generally open to anyone over the age of 18, whereas sports betting is generally for those over 21. Social betting sites are also far more widely available than real money online sportsbooks, including in states without legal gambling.
The user experience is different at social sportsbooks, too. Even though you can redeem real money prizes when you play in sweepstakes mode, this is just one facet of social sports betting. Winning is not the same overall objective as at regular sportsbooks. Instead, many people love social sportsbooks for their low-pressure, low-risk format, which allows you to be part of a community without worrying about winning and losing.
All that said, there are some similarities between social sportsbooks and regular sportsbooks. For one, the picking games at social sportsbooks are inspired by all the classic bets you know from regular sports betting. If you want to place, say, a moneyline bet on an upcoming NFL game but you live in a state without legal sports betting, a social sportsbook is your best option for a pretty similar experience. Even the software, right down to the digital betslip, feels similar.