Best Social Sportsbooks in the US

Closer Look at the Best Social Sportsbooks

What are the best social sportsbook sites in the US? After scouring the market and putting my expert picking skills to the test, I’ve found six social betting sites that, in my view, stand out from the rest.

Fliff

Fliff is a mobile-only social sportsbook that, in my opinion, does betting markets better than most. Every major sport is covered, and, in general, the odds are competitive. However, we ran a quick search and Fliff’s moneyline odds aren’t always the best.

For example, Fliff had the Philadelphia Eagles at +105 against the New York Jets (-135), while real-money bookies such as BetMGM had them at +110. Despite falling just short in a few betting markets, Fliff makes up ground with its prop betting markets.

Finally, for those of you who want more of a challenge can enter leaderboard promotions. Alternatively, if you just want to turn picks into points, you can exchange points for Domino’s, Airbnb, Grubhub, and other gift cards.

• Welcome Bonus: Spend $50, get $100 worth of Fliff Coins
• Restricted States: Washington, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Tennessee, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana
• Available Sports: 25+ sports, including football, basketball, and soccer

Sportzino

I love Sportzino’s design. It’s streamlined and perfectly optimized for mobile devices. That’s handy because you can wager Gold Coins and Sweeps via its website or native mobile apps. My passion for Sportzino’s design isn’t based purely on aesthetics. This social betting site does live sports incredibly well.

Some of the lines aren’t always attractive, but there are hundreds of in-play wagers available daily. Other highlights are the picking contests covering sports, news, and cultural events. They’re free to enter, and the top pickers win Gold Coins and Sweeps.

• Welcome Bonus: 170,000 Gold Coins + seven Sweeps
• Restricted States: Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Washington
• Available Sports: 20+ sports, including football, basketball, tennis

Legendz

Legendz might be more of a social casino than a sportsbook, but don’t sleep on its betting markets. There were more than 33 sports to choose from the last time I checked, including the biggest events in eSports, such as Dota 2 and League of Legends.

This better-than-average selection of sports is backed by competitive odds. Although the odds for eSports and tennis could be better, major sports such as football and basketball have an average margin of less than 5%. This, combined with a daily bonus that gives you 1.5 Sweeps every 24 hours, means you’ve got plenty of redemption potential at Legendz.

• Welcome Bonus: 500 Gold Coins + three Sweeps
• Restricted States: Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Washington, West Virginia
• Available Sports: 33+ sports, including eSports, football, and soccer

Kickr

Kickr only has a small selection of sports right now (baseball, basketball, and motorsport), but it’s still one of the best social betting apps for two reasons: promotions and challenges. New users get 150,000 Bits (aka Gold Coins) and four Bucks (Sweeps). Only Sportzino on this list has a bigger welcome bonus.

That initial bankroll boost is ideal for the competitive among you. Like its peers, Kickr runs leaderboard promotions. However, it also goes a few steps further by offering tournaments and challenges. All of these unique features give you a way to prove your picking prowess and earn free Sweeps.

• Welcome Bonus: 150,000 Bits and four Bucks
• Restricted States: Nevada, Louisiana, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Washington
• Available Sports: Baseball, basketball, and motorsport

BetRivers.net

Despite looking slightly dated, BetRivers.net is one of the most reliable, secure, and well-constructed social sports betting sites in the US. That’s because it’s part of the Rush Street Interactive family.

As well as running free-play sports sites and casinos, Rush Street Interactive also operates real-money sites. Therefore, even though BetRivers.net doesn’t offer prize redemptions, you can use it as a training ground before moving on to one of its real-money betting sites (if you’re in a state where it’s legal).

• Welcome Bonus: 500 Free Virtual Credits (VC$)
• Restricted States: None
• Available Sports: 33+ sports, including football, basketball, tennis, and boxing

Rush Games

Rush Games stands out as one of the most comprehensive social sportsbooks, offering odds on 33 sports ranging from football and baseball to niche options like table tennis, eBasketball, and even WWE pro wrestling. That variety gives it a broader appeal than many rivals.

New players start with a generous daily supply of free Virtual Credits (VC$), which can be topped up every four hours through ongoing bonuses. This makes it one of the easiest platforms for casual users to keep playing without making a purchase.

Although it doesn’t offer Sweeps Coin redemptions for cash prizes, Rush Games shines as a low-pressure, entertainment-first sportsbook. It’s also backed by Rush Street Interactive—the same operator behind BetRivers.net and several licensed real-money sites—so you can count on a safe and reliable experience.

• Welcome Bonus: 500 Free Virtual Credits (VC$)
• Restricted States: None
• Available Sports: 33+ sports, including MMA, golf, and ice hockey

What are Social Sportsbooks?

Social sports betting apps are almost identical to their real-money counterparts, except for one crucial difference: they don’t accept cash wagers.

You might think this means you can’t win cash prizes. Wrong. You can win prizes, but not in the way you might expect.

Social betting apps are free-play platforms, which means you wager virtual coins with no real-world value. That makes them legal sports betting apps in virtually every US state, even those without online gambling regulations.

They’re legal because money isn’t exchanging hands. You’re betting on sports using a virtual currency known as Gold Coins. Winning Gold Coin wagers return Gold Coins, as you’d expect, which doesn’t address the prize element of these sportsbooks.

I’ll explain how you can win prizes in the next section. For now, you need to know that social betting sites allow you to speculate on real sporting events using virtual currencies.

How Social Sportsbooks Work

Here’s how to place a bet at the best social sportsbook sites:

1. Use our secure link to create an account at your favorite social sports betting site
2. Claim your social sportsbook bonus (paid in Gold Coins and Sweeps)
3. Open the betting lobby and find a bet that catches your eye
4. Take your side of the bet by tapping the odds
5. In the bet slip, enter your stake

That’s the same process you’d go through at a real-money online sportsbook. The only difference is your stake.

Coins Instead Of Cash

You don’t hold dollars in your social sports betting account. Instead, your balance is split into two parts: Gold Coins and Sweeps. Gold Coins, as we’ve said, are free-play credits that allow you to wager money on sporting events without any risk.

Sweeps are another type of virtual currency. Like Gold Coins, they’re not the same as money. They do, however, have value. That value is unlocked when you exchange them for cash prizes and gift cards.

In the business, we call the exchange process a redemption. The best social sports betting sites in America have a 1:1 redemption rate, which means you get $1 for every Sweep Coin you redeem.

How to Get Free Sweeps at the Best Social Betting Sites

Gold Coins are easy to get. You can claim them daily through login bonuses, promotions, and giveaways. Sweeps Coins are harder to come by, but you can get them through the following bonuses:

• Welcome Bonuses: Joining new social sports betting apps unlocks welcome bonuses that contain a combination of Gold Coins and Sweeps.
• Purchase Bonuses: You can buy Gold Coins and get free Sweeps as a bonus.
• Giveaways: The best social sportsbook sites run prize wheel giveaways and competitions that give you a chance to win Sweeps Coins.
• Boosts: Top social bookmakers boost the odds or payouts for selected bets. The boosted payout is usually paid in Sweeps Coins.
• VIP Rewards: Loyalty and consistency are rewarded with Sweeps Coins at social sportsbooks.
• Referral Bonuses: The final way to get free Sweeps Coins is through social sportsbook referral bonuses. Just send people to your favorite sportsbook via a personalized link, and you’ll get Sweeps when they make a purchase.

Wager Sweeps and Win Prizes

Those are the main ways to get Sweeps Coins at social sports betting sites. Once you’ve got Sweeps in your account, you can choose to wager them instead of Gold Coins.

Any profit you make from these wagers, along with your stake, is paid in Sweeps Coins. Eventually, once you’ve got enough Sweeps to meet the minimum redemption limit, you can exchange them for prizes.

That’s how social betting apps work, and more importantly, how you can turn free wagers into cash prizes.

Pros and Cons of Social Sportsbooks

Social Sportsbooks Comparison

If you’re not sure where to start, here’s how my top-rated social sportsbooks compare:

Social Sportsbooks vs. Traditional Sportsbooks vs. DFS

Now you know how social betting apps work, let’s compare them to real-money sportsbooks and Daily Fantasy Sports sites. The table below highlights the similarities and differences between the three disciplines.

You’ll notice that social betting sites and real-money sportsbooks have the most in common. However, social sportsbooks also have some crossover with daily fantasy sports (DFS) sites.

For example, social betting apps, like DFS sites, are governed by federal law rather than state law. Operators in both industries have to abide by state regulations, but they don’t need to hold a state license like real-money sportsbooks.

Some DFS sites also use virtual currencies instead of USD. Although this is less common than it is in social sports betting, it’s possible to enter free-play contests using virtual currencies at DraftKings, Underdog, and other DFS sites.

Finally, there’s a more obvious entertainment angle to social betting and DFS contests than real-money gambling. I’m not saying real-money sports betting isn’t fun. It is. However, there’s less emphasis on low-risk entertainment than there is in social and DFS betting.

Are Social Sportsbooks Legal?

Social sportsbook sites are legal in the majority of US states because they don’t offer real-money gambling. Although you bet against the house just like you do with traditional sportsbooks, the coins you’re wagering don’t have any value.

This free-play element is what keeps social betting apps outside of US federal laws such as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). Although UIGEA didn’t outlaw online gambling, it prohibited the processing of payments from US citizens to offshore sites.

Legal challenges and States’ Rights have limited the scope of UIGEA in certain states since 2006, which has allowed online gambling to flourish in certain parts of the US. However, there are still many states where online gambling isn’t legal.

That’s where social casinos and sportsbooks fit in. They don’t need to comply with UIGEA or state gambling laws because they don’t offer gambling. Instead, they have an “always free” model that allows you to wager Gold Coins for fun.

The sweepstakes element of these sites is covered by US sweepstakes promotional laws. Essentially, when you’re wagering Sweeps tokens, it’s as though you’re entering a sweepstake draw (i.e., prize draw). Just as it is when you enter a sweepstakes draw, there’s a chance you can win prizes.

Here’s how this applies to social sports betting:

•         You wager Sweeps Coins on a sporting event.
•         The Sweeps Coins are your ticket into the prize draw.
•         The sporting event is classed as a draw because it has a random outcome.
•         Winning the bet is the same as having your ticket selected in the draw.
•         That “ticket” gets credited to your account balance as Sweeps Coins that are redeemable for a prize once you’ve met the site’s wagering requirements.

Top Features to Look for in a Social Sportsbook

What features do I look for in a social sportsbook? Great question. After using and subsequently reviewing social betting apps, I’ve come to realize the biggest players in the game share these traits:

1. Legal and Reputable

Gamblers rely on their reputations because bets are often made on the assumption that the other party will pay up if they lose. The same goes for social bookmakers.

Companies that don’t play by the rules are not only illegal but potentially untrustworthy. That’s why I make sure an operator’s terms and conditions comply with US sweepstakes laws.

I also look for other markets of trust, such as SSL-encrypted software and reputable payment options such as Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal. Responsible gambling tools, including purchase limits and session timers, also tell me an operator cares about its customers.

2. A Varied Selection of Social Sportsbook Bonus Offers

Bonuses are the best way to get free Sweeps Coins, which, as you know, are the only way to turn free bets into cash prizes. Welcome bonuses are the minimum standard.

For me, the best social sportsbook sites run different offers every day, including login bonuses, odds boosts, picking competitions, and giveaways.

Sportzino is particularly good in this area. In addition to the aforementioned bonuses, it has a Hall of Fame loyalty program offering a plethora of perks. Some of the most impressive perks are personalized promotions, performance reviews, and access to a betting coach.

3. Accessibility and Usability

I prefer betting companies to have websites and mobile apps, but I won’t disregard one just because it doesn’t have the latter. As long as I can access a full selection of betting markets and promotions on my mobile, I’m happy.

Of course, access isn’t enough. Sportsbooks need to be well constructed, not least because there are dozens of bets for a single event.

Personally, I prefer the two-panel system where you get a betting menu on the left-hand side of the page and the latest markets in the center.

The bet slip remains hidden from view until you’ve made a pick. This system streamlines the interface, making it easier to place bets on any device.

4. Fast and Fair Redemptions

Redemptions are the heartbeat of all social sportsbooks. The best platforms have a 1:1 redemption rate and a 1x playthrough on Sweeps Coins. This means you need to wager Sweeps at least once before they can be redeemed.

Sportsbooks that offer gift cards are great because these redemptions can be processed instantly with little more than an email address.

For cash prizes, I like sportsbooks that have a minimum redemption of 100 Sweeps or fewer and a processing time under five days. The very best social betting apps, including Legendz, process cash redemptions within 48 hours.

5. Quality Customer Service

The final quality I look for in a top-rated social betting site is customer service. An FAQ is important, but it’s not enough. I want access to 24/7 customer support via email, live chat, and social media.

Why You Should Trust Us

I’ve worked in the gambling industry for more than 15 years, so I’ve seen it all. That’s why I can tell a high-quality legal social sports betting site from a pretender. More important than my industry experiences are my personal ones.

I’m as much of a sports betting fan as I am a professional, so I know the importance of trust. I have to trust the person I’m listening to if they recommend a social betting site because I value my safety.

I know you want the same. You’re relying on me to give you clear, honest, and accurate information, so that’s what I do.

I review every social sportsbook I recommend to ensure it offers the type of service I expect as a customer. Only those that make the grade and prove they’re legit get my seal of approval.

Responsible Social Betting

Wagering Gold Coins and Sweeps doesn’t mean you can be reckless. It may be true that Gold Coins are free and have no value, but squandering them leads to bad habits.

Those bad habits can turn into a gambling problem if you ever get the chance to parlay your social betting experience into one involving real-money wagers.

Fortunately, all of the best social sportsbook apps have responsible social gaming tools. Fliff, for example, offers users the following:

• A problem gambling self-assessment quiz
• Daily/weekly/monthly spending limits
• Session time limits
• Timeout and self-exclusion options
• Contact details for responsible gaming organizations, including Computer Gaming Addicts Anonymous.