Many social casino games will also include features like leaderboards, where Professor Rockloff says you can 'lord your winnings over others, of the entertainment and fun of the experience'. 'Even though there's no possibility of withdrawing funds, you can advertise your winnings to other people, and share how well you're doing,' he says. Matthew Rockloff, head of the Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory at Central Queensland University, says there's a social element to social casino games. Read more Apps are programmed to draw you in 'Even when that reward is not material in the sense of having monetary value, it still has value for the user,' she says. Sally Gainsbury, the director of Sydney University's Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic, says gambling has a 'universal appeal of risking something for reward'.

So how do people get hooked on them? It's not about the money Last month, a Mackay woman was jailed after stealing nearly $1 million to fund her social casino game addiction, while a Perth man spoke of sinking $800 on a virtual slot game in a matter of minutes.īut you can't win anything real on these games, and you can't cash out. For some people, these gambling simulators are just as harmful as the real thing. The global social casino market generates billions in revenue each year. But in social casino games, you can't win anything - so it's technically not gambling, and is much less regulated than the real thing. If you or someone you know needs help:Īctual online casino gambling - as in, playing these games for money - is banned in Australia. But if you run out and want to keep playing, you'll need to pay up.

On a game like slots, you'd start off with a certain number of free virtual coins. Popular games include bingo, poker and slots. Social casino games are websites or phone apps where you gamble just for fun, not for a payout. You can't win any money from them, and they're free to play - until they're not.

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