I’ve taken on what has been a very difficult task – the job of comparing coin package costs and values for 15 popular social casino apps.
While these apps are free and you can’t win real money there IS money involved – at least for some portion of the people who download these games.
These apps award new players a volume of virtual coins so that they can play slot machines inside the app.
When they’re all gone the player has a choice to make – wait for more free coins (which can come from a variety of methods but may take time) OR buy more virtual coins so that they can keep playing.
When you buy virtual coins what you’re really paying for is extended play time and people are certainly willing to go this route.
According to Statista these apps are projected to make $5.5 billion dollars in 2021 just from players who have downloaded these games to their mobile devices.
We’re talking big money.
If you’ve ever downloaded one of these you’ll have noticed pretty quickly that there is an effort to get you to buy.
There’s most often a big “Buy” or “Shop” or “Sale” button at the top of the home screen.
Pop-ups let you know when there’s a “special sale” going on.
When you run out of coins you’re sure to be shown a screen letting you know the availability of coin packages you can purchase.
Some are more pushy about this than others.
But the issue that bothers me the most is the huge disparity in the true value of these packages.
This is where things get complex because 1,000,000 virtual coins on one app does not equate to 1,000,000 virtual coins on another.
If one social casino app gives you 5,000,000 coins for $4.99 while another gives you 20,000,000 for the same price does that mean the second app offers a better value?
Nope. It doesn’t mean that at all.
Basis of Comparison
One way to compare the value of these packages is to convert the number of purchased coins into the maximum possible SPINS one might get from those coins.
We can do that by dividing the number of coins being purchased by the lowest minimum bet one can make on a slot in the app.
If it costs $4.99 to buy 20,000,000 coins on one app and the lowest minimum bet on that app is 48,000 then you’re buying 416 spins.
If you can buy only 5,000,000 coins on a second app and the lowest minimum bet is 1,000 then you’re buying 5,000 spins.
Now which offer looks better?
The second one, right? You’d be paying the same amount but you’d get 4,584 MORE spins.
Values of Packages at $4.99, $9.99, and $99.99
I gathered data for 15 of the most popular social casino apps and converted their coin packages into numbers of spins for the price points of $4.99, $9.99, and $99.99.
The differences were not just significant – they were shocking.
The social casino app offering the lowest value for a coin package price of $4.99 was DoubleU Casino for which you get 1,500,000 coins. At a minimum bet of 16,000 that gives you only 93 spins.
Compare that to Slotomania which sells 44,800,000 coins for the same price. At a minimum bet of 50 coins you get 896,000 spins. (However, some game features may not be available at that lower bet…another example of why it’s hard to make these comparisons!)
That’s a difference of 963341%. Like I said…shocking.
If I exclude Slotomania (which looks like an outlier) and look at the change between the lowest on the list and the 2nd best there is still a 13340.9% difference.
Below are tables showing the number of spins being purchased using the formula above for a variety of coin packages on 15 heavily downloaded social casino apps.
There are some caveats to this data:
- All of the amounts in this table are for a single point in time and are subject to change.
- Most reflect what would be shown to a new player. A player who had leveled up or earned reward program points might see higher spins per package.
- These amounts do not reflect any sales or discounts. Where the shop on the app showed a volume of coins that had been crossed out and a higher coin volume for that package the crossed out number has been used under the assumption that it reflects the standard, non-sale price.
- N/A means that app did not have an option at that price.
- The order of the apps in the first three tables below is ranked from those with the most spins per coin package to those with the least.
- Number of spins were rounded down to the nearest 1 since you can’t make a spin when you have less than the minimum bet.
- Some coin packages include additional items useful in the app such as boosters that grant higher free coin bonuses or loyalty points that will enhance future coin package purchases. It’s hard to place a value on these extras and they vary by app and by user. These were excluded from all calculations.
| Social Casino | Minimum Bet | # of Coins for $4.99 | # of Spins at Minimum Bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slotomania | 50 | 44,800,000 | 896,000 |
| New Slots 2021 | 2,000 | 25,000,000 | 12,500 |
| myVegas Slots | 6,000 | 46,200,000 | 7,700 |
| Huuuge Casino Slots | 5,000 | 35,000,000 | 7,000 |
| Golden Casino | 1,000 | 5,000,000 | 5,000 |
| Quick Hit Casino Games | 8,100 | 30,000,000 | 3,703 |
| Tycoon Casino | 250,000 | 550,000,000 | 2,200 |
| Gold Fish Casino Slots | 140,000 | 80,000,000 | 571 |
| Cash Blitz | 50,000 | 26,000,000 | 520 |
| Jackpot Party Casino | 48,000 | 20,000,000 | 416 |
| mychoice Casino Jackpot Slots | 45,000 | 9,500,000 | 211 |
| Hard Rock Social Casino | 400 | 45,000 | 112 |
| DoubleU Casino | 16,000 | 1,500,000 | 93 |
| Double Win Casino | 5,000 | N/A | N/A |
| Heart of Vegas | 10,000 | N/A | N/A |
The order of the apps did not change much when looking at the coin volumes for any that had $9.99 packages.
| Social Casino | Minimum Bet | # of Coins for $9.99 | # of Spins at Minimum Bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slotomania | 50 | 112,896,000 | 2,257,920 |
| New Slots 2021 | 2,000 | 50,000,000 | 25,000 |
| Huuuge Casino Slots | 5,000 | 80,000,000 | 16,000 |
| Golden Casino | 1,000 | 12,500,000 | 12,500 |
| Quick Hit Casino Games | 8,100 | 90,000,000 | 11,111 |
| Tycoon Casino | 250,000 | 1,200,000,000 | 4,800 |
| Gold Fish Casino Slots | 140,000 | 192,000,000 | 1,371 |
| Cash Blitz | 50,000 | 60,000,000 | 1,200 |
| Jackpot Party Casino | 48,000 | 48,000,000 | 1,000 |
| Double Win Casino | 5,000 | 3,800,000 | 760 |
| mychoice Casino Jackpot Slots | 45,000 | 23,750,000 | 527 |
| Hard Rock Social Casino | 400 | 93,000 | 232 |
| DoubleU Casino | 16,000 | N/A | N/A |
| Heart of Vegas | 10,000 | N/A | N/A |
| myVegas Slots | 6,000 | N/A | N/A |
There was much more movement in the list when comparing the values of packages at the $99.99 price point.
| Social Casino | Minimum Bet | # of Coins for $99.99 | # of Spins at Minimum Bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slotomania | 50 | 3,951,360,000 | 79,027,200 |
| Huuuge Casino Slots | 5,000 | 2,700,000,000 | 540,000 |
| Quick Hit Casino Games | 8,100 | 2,700,000,000 | 333,333 |
| New Slots 2021 | 2,000 | 500,000,000 | 250,000 |
| myVegas Slots | 6,000 | 1,386,000,000 | 231,000 |
| Golden Casino | 1,000 | 100,000,000 | 100,000 |
| Tycoon Casino | 250,000 | 14,000,000,000 | 56,000 |
| Gold Fish Casino Slots | 140,000 | 5,200,000,000 | 37,142 |
| Jackpot Party Casino | 48,000 | 1,300,000,000 | 27,083 |
| Cash Blitz | 50,000 | 860,000,000 | 17,200 |
| Double Win Casino | 5,000 | 66,000,000 | 13,200 |
| mychoice Casino Jackpot Slots | 45,000 | 570,000,000 | 12,666 |
| DoubleU Casino | 16,000 | 200,000,000 | 12,500 |
| Heart of Vegas | 10,000 | 105,000,000 | 10,500 |
| Hard Rock Social Casino | 400 | 870,000 | 2,175 |
Length of Extended Play Time
Another way to look at the values is to think about the amount of extended play time being purchased.
If we assume that the time it takes to complete one spin on these apps is the same we can convert the value of the coin packages into hours and minutes.
I timed myself making spins on a variety of slots and the average spin time was 5 seconds if I did not stop the reels and allowed any wins to count out.
If I were to purchase a $4.99 package on DoubleU Casino the table shows I’d be purchasing 93 spins at the minimum bet.
If each spin takes an average of 5 seconds then I’m really buying 7.8 minutes of play time for my $4.99.
Compare that to a $4.99 purchase on myVegas Slots where I’d get 7,700 spins – or 10.7 hours.
The following chart shows the hours of play time purchased for each of the three coin packages for these 15 apps.
| Social Casino | Play Time Hours for $4.99 | Play Time Hours for $9.99 | Play Time Hours for $99.99 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slotomania | 1,244.4 | 3,136.0 | 109,760.0 |
| New Slots 2021 | 17.4 | 34.7 | 347.2 |
| myVegas Slots | 10.7 | 25.3 | 320.8 |
| Huuuge Casino Slots | 9.7 | 22.2 | 750.0 |
| Golden Casino | 6.9 | 17.4 | 138.9 |
| Quick Hit Casino Games | 5.1 | 15.4 | 463.0 |
| Tycoon Casino | 3.1 | 6.7 | 77.8 |
| Gold Fish Casino Slots | 0.8 | 1.9 | 51.6 |
| Cash Blitz | 0.7 | 1.7 | 23.9 |
| Jackpot Party Casino | 0.6 | 1.4 | 37.6 |
| Double Win Casino | N/A | 1.1 | 18.3 |
| mychoice Casino Jackpot Slots | 0.3 | 0.7 | 17.6 |
| Heart of Vegas | N/A | N/A | 14.6 |
| Hard Rock Social Casino | 0.2 | 0.3 | 3.0 |
| DoubleU Casino | 0.1 | N/A | 17.4 |
Win Percentages, Enjoyment Factor & Rewards
There are a few things that this data does not take into account.
First, it might not matter at all that one mobile slot app offers more extended play time (value) for their coin packages vs another if you don’t like any of the slots on the one with better packages.
This is why the lineup of slots on an app is an important part of their strategy. If the app makers know they have licenses to popular slot names or they have proprietary features that are a hit with users then they can price those items into their packages.
Second, one app might have a better win percentage than another.
You might get more play time but fewer winning spins than on another slot app. This could have a big impact on the ability to convert purchased coins into more virtual coins.
Third, many apps reward loyalty members or repeat buyers with better package prices. In those cases you would have to perform the above calculations using your own data for any exclusive package offers.
How to Use This Information
At the very least, the information in these tables will highlight the vast differences in what you’re really getting when you spend money to buy virtual coins on a social casino app.
It may also help you judge the coin packages you see in other apps not in this list.
Anyone looking for a new slot app to play that knows they are likely to spend money on virtual coins but wants to stick to a budget may want to check out the apps on these lists that offer the best value.
As consumers, we can also make a statement with our wallets and avoid spending money with any apps that appear to offer extremely poor coin package values.