Social Casinos as a Tool for Preliminary Testing of Mechanics

In a highly competitive environment and under a strict regulation of gambling, developers are increasingly turning to social entertainment sites as a safe and flexible place for experimentation.

Operators test different hypotheses and functions, study new approaches to engagement, and track results using KPIs.

Rosloto experts explain how community projects have become a powerful platform for evaluating gambling mechanics. You will learn what innovations can be applied and which metrics to focus on.

About Social Casinos

These are digital portals with entertainment elements, but without bets with real money. Players use virtual currency (from chips and points to non-fungible tokens), which can be earned or bought, but cannot be withdrawn.

Community projects are popular on mobile devices, Facebook, and individual thematic applications. Here, the main emphasis is on entertainment, socialisation, and gamification, rather than on winning.

The first components of social casinos appeared in the mid-2000s, when slots and poker solutions began to gain popularity on Facebook.

Instead of traditional bids, such platforms used the following mechanics:

• gifts;
• leaderboards;
• in-game coins.

By 2015, the global social casino market was estimated at $3.3 billion (according to the Eilers & Krejcik Gaming analytical centre). However, the real breakthrough in the social projects segment happened in the early 2020s, including due to the integration of PvP mechanics, Web3, NFTs, and other innovative solutions.

According to Sensor Tower, such portals are in the Top-3 categories in regard to revenues in the App Store and Google Play in the USA. In the European and Asian regions, the focus is also gradually shifting towards such online resources, thanks to the still low regulatory barrier and huge interest from the audience.

Why Social Casinos are Used to Test Entertainment Functions

In 2025, projects of this kind will be not only a source of income for operators, but also a powerful platform for testing new gambling mechanics. Before a commercial launch, entrepreneurs increasingly evaluate the viability of functions on betting sites and only then make a decision on the final integration.

Let us consider the advantages of this business approach:

Minimal Regulatory Barriers

In most countries, social portals are not subject to gambling laws because:

• they do not have bids in real money;
• prizes cannot be withdrawn in cash, even if customers buy internal chips.

Such platforms provide entertainment content, not iGaming products.

Entrepreneurs can perform the following actions:

• implement any mechanics, for example, lootbox systems, non-standard bonuses, double wheels of fortune, auctions, and non-fungible tokens;
• do not obtain licences or undergo audits from MGA, UKGC, KSA, and other regulators;
• bypass requirements in terms of compliance, KYC/AML, and age of the audience.

Wide and Representative User Base

Large social platforms have millions of active players every month.

A long list of visitors to social casinos ensures:

• quick launch of A/B and multivariate tests among live audiences;
• the ability to segment users by age, geography, behavioural patterns, etc.;
• gaining massive amounts of data on retention, click-through rate, LTV, session time, and other key metrics;
• high reliability of results, especially during surge testing of UX/UI, tutorials, gamification, bonuses, and progress bars.

Operators receive structured and reliable information about clients (their reactions, duration of sessions, and planned income), which can be applied for a commercial launch of mechanics.

Flexibility and Speed of Implementation

In casinos, each change requires deep legal analysis, approval from the regulator, security tests, and an RNG audit. On social platforms, developers can implement new additions in literally 1–2 weeks.

This approach allows business owners to perform several tasks:

• simultaneously check dozens of hypotheses;
• quickly remove unsuccessful mechanics;
• dynamically adapt UX and monetisation to the behaviour of the target audience.

Hypothesis Security

Errors in casinos are costly. Very often, they entail legal sanctions, loss of customers’ trust, and a decrease in revenues.

Key characteristics of social sites:

• there is no risk of a decline in income due to an unsuccessful test;
• erroneous mechanics are easily disabled without consequences;
• licensing authorities or financial partners do not exert any pressure.

Such casinos become a powerful platform for launching new tools, such as:

1. Bonus solutions. These are progressive points and unlock systems, as well as wheels of fortune with gradation by levels, seasonal promotions, missions, and other options that require a quick response.
2. Retention functions. Among the effective tools for retaining customers, it is worth highlighting daily streak rewards, push notifications, re-engagements, timers, energy levels, and collections. The functions can be easily tested on social portals and then integrated into traditional gambling projects.
3. Monetisation. A common technique is the use of virtual currency with different values and denominations, after which the optimal model is selected. Operators also check the functionality of VIP mechanics, “shootout” offers, and other methods.

Reduction of Financial Risks

Social casinos allow entrepreneurs to test new gaming concepts in a real user environment, but without any danger to the economy. Even if something goes wrong, operators will not lose players’ deposits.

Mechanics that show good engagement and profitability in social casinos are likely to work in the RMG segment. This helps businessmen more accurately predict the return on investment (ROI) before scaling the idea.

Entrepreneurs do not lose money, but invest it only in those tools that will receive a massive behavioural response.

Key Metrics That Can Be Tracked in Social Projects

Let us consider what indicators providers most often focus on.

Retention Rate

It displays the percentage of gamblers who return to the platform in a specified number of days after the first launch:

• day 1 retention — a player visited the website in the next 24 hours;
• day 7 retention — in a week;
• day 30 retention — within a month.

When integrating new mechanics (for example, daily missions or collections of items), retention indicators help to understand:

• how much the proposed function engages the audience;
• whether it maintains interest in the game;
• if the long-term user behaviour improves.

For example, after adding the wheel of fortune, the day 7 retention metrics increased from 14% to 19%. This means that clients are willing to return to the digital portal to spin the reels in slots again and win prizes.

ARPU

Average Revenue Per User is the median income for one active gambler (including those who do not pay).

This parameter helps operators evaluate:

• the monetisation potential of a new function;
• the ROI of the hypothesis (how much the innovation brings in terms of one client);
• the willingness of casino visitors to spend real money for the provided mechanics (even virtual currency).

After adding a VIP pass with reward levels, ARPU increased from $11.40 to $15.20. In practice, this means that the new function can be safely integrated into the real-money game.

Conversion to Pay

It is the percentage of users who made at least one purchase (for example, virtual chips or internal currency).

This metric is a key indicator of the audience's solvency. It shows how well new solutions motivate people to play at higher limits (even in in-game funds).

Studying the indicator is necessary for modeling behaviour in casinos where visitors can play for real money. If clients are ready to pay with virtual coins, then, most likely, they will be ready to make a deposit in a traditional entertainment location.

After adding the Double Your Winnings function for buying coins, the conversion rate increased from 2.5% to 4.8%. For entrepreneurs, this is a signal to scale up the idea and implement it in an iGaming startup.

Time and Depth of Sessions

These parameters determine the audience engagement:

• session time — how long people stayed on the platform during one visit;
• session depth — how many actions (rounds, slot launches, and hands) users perform.

The metrics show whether new elements are interesting to customers, especially in genres with repetitive gameplay (slots, poker, and bingo).

For example, the integration of “missions against time”, increased the duration of sessions from 9 to 14 minutes. This means that the mechanics motivate clients to stay in the game and launch it in an online casino.

Feature Adoption Rate

It shows the percentage of visitors who:

• participated in an event;
• used a new currency;
• entered the bonus round;
• activated the battle pass.

Studying the indicator helps to understand how clear and interesting the function is. If the parameter remains too low, this often reflects a poor UX interface or insufficient motivation.

The Main Things about Social Casinos

Such portals are great for testing game mechanics before their commercial launch.

Key aspects that operators should take into account:

• The advantages of this business approach include minimal regulatory barriers, a representative user base, flexibility, and speed of implementation. Social casinos allow entrepreneurs to safely test different hypotheses and reduce financial risks.
• During such inspections, project owners focus on conversion to pay, ARPU, retention indicator, feature adoption rate, and other metrics. A comprehensive analysis makes it possible to understand which functions will receive the greatest response from the audience and bring profit to operators.

The Rosloto studio offers to order a turnkey portal, a White Label platform, a betting site, and lottery software. We create unique content, including social games, HTML5 slots, products with blockchain elements, and entertainment with non-fungible tokens.