What Are Social Casino Games?

What Types of Social Casino Games Are There?

The world of social casino games caters to all kinds of gamblers and gamers. The number of subverticals that make up this genre include:

• Poker
• Slot machines
• Casino table games
• Scratch-and-win lottery tickets
• Blackjack
• Bingo
• Roulette
• Multiplayer card games

We are seeing many top gaming companies in this genre diversifying their title portfolio by incorporating gameplay elements from other gaming genres – such as casual games. This is to maximize user acquisition and monetization efforts and appeal to a much wider user base.

Who Plays Social Casino Games?

Data from the Mobile Games Index 2023 tells us that older demographics – those over 40 years – are the most committed mobile gamers in this vertical. They play for an average of at least 17 minutes per day. The user base is split up pretty evenly between male and female users, with women typically spending roughly 17.8 minutes in social casino gameplay a day and men around 17.2 minutes. 

Social casino gamers in the Americas typically spend the least time in gameplay as opposed to other regions, such as Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.

Why Do People Play These Games?

The two main drivers that push social casino gamers into becoming committed users are the social and competitive elements – being able to connect and compete with players around the world during gameplay. With elements such as a leaderboard, leagues, and tournaments, gamers are compelled to progress and outperform their rivals. This means they spend more and more time in the game perfecting their strategies.

Many social casino gamers have also reported the similarities a social casino game offers to a real gambling experience. These include the aesthetics of a real casino and the excitement while playing. 

How Do Social Casino Games Monetize?

The estimated global value of mobile social casino games is currently around 7.1 billion US dollars. It is estimated to reach 8.3 billion US dollars in 2026. In recent years, this genre has been hailed as one of the top-grossing mobile gaming genres worldwide – after role-playing games, strategy, and match games. 

If there’s something that has remained quite consistent in the social casino gaming market, it’s that social casino gamers are more willing to spend their money on in-app purchases than other gamers. A typical social casino game monetizes almost 70 percent from in-app purchases and 30 percent from in-app advertising. 

Although there are many free-to-play social casino games, titles in this vertical monetize by driving their users to purchase additional credits once the initial credit runs out. This is once they have become engaged and regular players. By upselling credits to these high-retention gamers, the vertical can easily transform from free-to-play to pay-to-play mobile games.

Conclusion

While this gaming vertical might not currently be the highest-grossing mobile gaming vertical out there, there are many areas in which we may well see the vertical growing further. Social casino game developers venturing out and incorporating other subverticals – such as casual games – into gameplay to appeal to a much wider user base. They are also capitalizing on trends such as growing interest in social apps and 5G technology for better multiplayer experiences.

While in-app purchases will continue to make up a lot of revenue generated by this genre worldwide, in-app advertising will gain more traction in monetization strategy, as game hybridization starts to impact the app economy of more social casino games.

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