Sportsgrid Staff
Host · Writer - Published: 11/28/24

Casino gaming fans in the US face one major question above all; should they play free vs paid slots? This guide is here to quickly sort things out once and for all.
Here you’ll get to see how you can play free slots at social casinos from most states across the US, and even redeem cash prizes in the process. Plus we’ll examine issues that have stopped people from playing at social casinos in the past, such as limited game selection and so on.
When we are talking about free vs paid slots, we are really discussing the merits of playing at social casinos rather than regular real money online casinos. Here the main things to consider:
If you want to play at an online casino with real money, you will only be able to do so in a handful of states. This is because only the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia allow this kind of activity within their borders.
It’s a very different picture when it comes to social casinos as these are allowed to operate in the vast amount of states across the nation. Just remember that certain states like Washington, Idaho, Nevada and Michigan tend to be a little more restrictive about their social gaming laws.
Regular online casinos keep it pretty simple in that you sign up to their sites, make a real money deposit and then use those funds as stakes to gamble with on the casino games.
However, it’s very different at social casinos because these only let you play virtual currencies. These are usually called Gold Coins and Sweepstakes Coins. Gold Coins are just used to play for fun, while Sweepstakes Coins can potentially be used to redeem cash prizes.
One cool thing about social casinos is that they are legally obliged to let you enter their sweepstakes with no purchase necessary. This means that you can always get free credit to use to play slots for free. Definitely not the case at most online casinos out there.
For a while, it was definitely the case that social casinos had a smaller choice of games compared to regular real money online casinos. After all, many social casinos would have a handful of slots and that would be it.
Thankfully, those days have gone and now you can play thousands of top new sweepstakes casino games that take in everything from immersive live dealer games to innovative instant win games like crash and plinko.
Obviously, there is quite a lot of risk involved when playing at standard real money online casinos. After all, you are playing with your own money and there is every chance that you could lose it on one spin of the slot reels.
However, there is much less risk involved when playing at social casinos, as you are only playing with virtual currencies that have no cash value. Just remember to play responsibly – even though you are just playing with virtual credit.
Of course, if the above arguments haven’t swayed you, then maybe you should sign up to one of the following social casinos to see if they can meet your gaming needs:
You can play over 700 slot games here and there are also a decent amount of video poker and fishing games. Signing up will get you 120,000 Gold Coins and 10 Sweepstakes Coins that you can use to try and redeem cash prizes and gift cards. Elsewhere you will find an excellent rewards program that’ll keep you nicely topped up with free credit. Plus don’t forget that you can also play social casino tournaments on Zula Casino for a fun way to edge towards those redeemable cash prizes.
You only have to look at the trending sweepstake slots on Wow Vegas to see that social casinos are easily catching up to their real money counterparts in terms of the quality of their games. After all, there are over 1,200 slot games here from major developers like 3 Oaks, Pragmatic Play and Habanero. Wow Vegas also has a formidable range of promos. After all, you can sign up here and get 1,750,000 WOW Coins and 35 Sweepstake Coins and there is even a decent VIP star system to back you up.
It’s no major surprise to find that you can play over 700 top games on Stake.us for free. But what may catch you out is the sheer quality of these games. Not only do you get to play quality slots from major gaming studios like Pragmatic Play and Hacksaw Gaming, but there are Stake Originals slots here like Scarab Spin, and even a fully-stocked live casino. What’s best is that you can sign up to Stake.us using our exclusive SPORTSGRID code to get a welcome offer that gives you 55 Stake Cash, 260,000 Gold Coins and 5% rakeback.
By now you’ll understand that there are many positives about playing free vs paid slots. After all, social casinos now feature about as many games as their real money counterparts, and there is less risk involved. Obviously, there will be those out there who cannot imagine playing casino games without using their own money.
However, most gamers will understand the appeal of being able to play for free and redeem cash prizes in the process. So make sure that you sign up to one of the featured social casinos and start playing.