Legendz Becomes Newest Entry Into The Booming Social Casino And Sportsbook Space

As the debate persists over the intersection of sweepstakes, social casinos, and sportsbooks, Monday marked a big new entry into the space as Legendz Social Casino & Sportsbook launched in 43 states.

Among other items, Legendz bills itself as the first to market its offerings in both English and Spanish, along with claiming to have the highest return to player in the social casino world.

“With a full suite of slots, live casino, and sportsbook as well as some unique features that we’ll be rolling out over the next few months, we think our guests will find a social gaming experience they can’t get anywhere else,” Henrik Persson Ekdahl, one of the site’s co-founders, said in a press release.

The casino side of the site features hundreds of slot and live table games, while the sportsbook features the full array of props, parlays, straight bets, and more across multiple sports.

The site is open to people over 18 years of age, who can play for free with the chance to redeem winnings for real prizes — and a daily reward is given for just showing up to the site each day.

“Legendz is introducing a groundbreaking approach to rewarding loyal users and retaining its players with its unique daily reward slot game,” said Charlie McMaw, managing director for the company. “The game will offer a chance to win hundreds of free Sweeps Coins every single day. We’re transforming traditional rewards into an engaging experience, staying true to our core value: delivering entertainment at its finest.”

Payment options include Visa, Mastercard, and Skrill, and the company promises an experience in the social gaming world that’s “smoother than ever.”

Battles waging

Of course, the rush of enthusiasm and investment into the social and sweepstakes world has been met with a wave of consternation, litigation, and warnings. At issue the legality of the operating model of the “sweepstakes casino” in which there is one side of the casino that is entirely social and free to play, and the other where users may procure “sweeps” coins redeemable for real money under certain conditions.

Some states are moving to ban real money from being exchanged on these types of sites. Michigan, Delaware, and Connecticut have issued cease-and-desist orders to numerous sites, and the first lawsuit against a sweeps site in California (specifically, against Pulsz.com) was just filed last week.

Numerous figures in the gaming industry — most notably Howard Glaser, the global head of government affairs and legislative counsel at Light & Wonder — have spoken out against the legality of of these sites.

Another outspoken critic is Victor Rocha, the conference chairman of the Indian Gaming Association, who recently noted the industry is “young enough to still smother in the crib and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

Meanwhile, the range of gaming options domestically in the U.S. and internationally only continues to grow. Just last week former FanDuel co-founders Nigel Eccles and Rob Jones announced the launch of BetHog, a crypto casino with $6 million in seed funding that’s available for play in assorted countries — but not the U.S. or U.K.