For years, the only way to reach a slot’s free spins round was to keep spinning and hope for the scatter symbols to land. Bonus buy slots changed that. Instead of grinding through the base game, you pay a set price and the bonus round starts immediately. The feature has become one of the most talked-about additions to online slots in recent years, and https://thebonusbuyslots.com currently lists 300 titles that include it. This guide explains what a bonus buy is, how the pricing works, what it does to volatility and RTP, and who should and should not use it.
Bonus Buy Basics
A bonus buy (also called a feature buy or bonus purchase) is an option inside a slot that lets you skip the base game and jump directly into the bonus feature. Usually that feature is a free spins round, but some titles sell access to pick-and-click games, hold-and-win rounds or enhanced versions of the free spins with extra multipliers. Providers such as Pragmatic Play, Nolimit City and Hacksaw Gaming have built the feature into most of their recent releases.
The button normally sits next to the spin button, and it shows the price up front. That price is expressed as a multiple of your current bet, so it rises and falls with your stake. Once you confirm, the game deducts the cost from your balance and launches the feature on the next spin.
Types of Bonus Buy
Early bonus buy slots had a single option: pay the price, get the free spins. More recent releases often offer several, and the differences are worth understanding before you choose.
The standard buy delivers the same bonus the game would trigger naturally, at the same starting conditions. The enhanced buy begins the feature with something extra already in place: a higher multiplier, more spins, locked wild symbols or a larger grid. It costs more because the expected payout is higher. Some games include a mystery or random buy, where the price is reduced but the game decides which tier you receive, and a few allow you to buy a boosted base game instead, where the bonus triggers far more often for a set number of spins.
Each option has its own price and, in most games, its own published RTP. A frequent pattern is that the most expensive tier has the highest return and the mystery option the lowest, but this is not a rule, and the only safe way to know is to open the information screen and read the figures.
How a Bonus Buy Works, Step by Step
- Set your bet size first. The buy price is calculated from it, so change the stake before you open the buy menu.
- Open the bonus buy menu and read the price and, where several options exist, the differences between them.
- Confirm the purchase. The amount leaves your balance at that moment, rather than after the round ends.
- The game runs a triggering spin that guarantees the scatters, then the feature starts.
- Your winnings from the feature are added to your balance when it ends, exactly as they would be after a naturally triggered bonus.
A point worth stressing: the purchase is a single outcome. You are not buying a set number of spins at a guaranteed return; you are buying one shot at the feature, and that shot can pay back a fraction of the price or many times it.
Bonus Buy Pricing
The typical price for a basic free spins buy is around 100x the bet. At a stake of 1 EUR, that means 100 EUR for one feature. Games with several tiers can go much higher: enhanced bonuses that guarantee a higher multiplier or extra wilds are often priced at 500x or more.
The multiplier is not arbitrary. In the game’s maths, it approximates how many base-game spins you would expect to play on average before the bonus triggered naturally, adjusted for the wins you would have collected along the way. This is the reason the price differs from game to game: a slot where the feature triggers, say, every 150 spins will sell it more cheaply than one where it triggers every 400.
Because the cost moves with the bet, the minimum buy is set by the game’s minimum stake. On The Bonus Buy Slots the lowest bet on most bonus buy titles is 0.20 EUR, which puts the cheapest standard buy at 20 EUR.
Bought Bonus or Natural Trigger?
Imagine two players at the same stake on the same game. The first spins normally and reaches the bonus whenever it comes. The second buys it every time. Over a long enough stretch, their total return lines up with the respective RTP figures, so neither has a built-in edge unless the buy RTP differs from the base RTP.
What separates them is the shape of the session. The first player sees many small wins, long dry spells and an occasional bonus. The second sees nothing but bonuses, each one either a disappointment or a win, with nothing in between. Over an hour the first player might have risked a few hundred bets in total; the second could have risked the same sum in ten clicks. Same game, same maths, entirely different experience.
RTP and Volatility
Two numbers change when you buy the bonus, and each of them matter.
The first is RTP. Many providers publish a separate return figure for the bought feature, and it is not always the same as the base-game RTP. In some games the buy RTP is slightly higher, in others it is lower, and occasionally it is identical. The figure is usually listed in the game’s information screen next to the regular RTP, and it is worth reading before you spend anything.
The second is volatility, and here the effect is far bigger. A naturally triggered bonus arrives after dozens or hundreds of base spins that smooth out your results. A bought bonus removes all of that. Every purchase is one large bet on a single high-variance event, so a session of ten buys can move far more than a thousand regular spins at the same stake. Even when the long-term return is similar, the ride is nothing alike.
Common Myths About Bonus Buys
Because the feature is relatively new and costly, it has attracted a lot of folklore. Three claims come up again and again, and none of them survives contact with the maths.
„The game remembers what you paid.“ It does not. Each bought feature is resolved by the random number generator independently, with no record of previous purchases or results. A string of poor bonuses does not make the next one more likely to hit, and a big win does not leave the game „due“ to go cold.
„Buying is always worse value.“ Sometimes it is, when the buy RTP is set below the base figure. Just as often it is identical or marginally better. The claim is meaningless without looking at the specific game.
„Buying at a low stake is safer.“ It is cheaper, which is not the same thing. The relationship of price to expected return remains the same at every bet level; a smaller stake simply shrinks both sides in proportion.
The Upside
- Time. You get to the feature in seconds instead of waiting through half an hour.
- Full feature exposure. If you play slots for the bonus round, a buy gives you the part you came for every time.
- Easier comparison. Because you see the bonus repeatedly, you understand how a game’s feature plays much faster than through base-game play.
- Control over spending. The price is visible before you click, so you can work out exactly how many features your budget covers.
- Published maths. Where the provider lists a dedicated buy RTP, you know the precise return of what you are paying for.
Drawbacks and Risks
- Volatility. As covered earlier, a run of dead bonuses can drain a balance that would have lasted hours of normal play.
- Price creep. Increasing the bet to chase a loss also raises the buy price, which accelerates the downswing.
- Pace. Rapid purchases squeeze a lot of risk into very little time, which makes it easy to lose track of how much you have spent.
- No base-game wins. You give up every win that would have come from the spins you skipped. The buy price includes this, but it is still money that never passes through your balance.
Is the Feature Right for You?
The feature suits players who understand that they are paying for variance, who set a budget in features rather than in minutes, and who actually enjoy the bonus round over the base game. It is also handy for anyone evaluating a new slot and wanting to see the feature several times quickly.
It is a poor fit for anyone on a small bankroll, for anyone who tends to chase losses, and for players who enjoy the slow build of anticipation that the base game provides. If a single buy represents a large share of what you are willing to lose in a session, skip it.
How to Choose a Bonus Buy Slot
With hundreds of titles carrying the feature, the choice comes down to a few things that take a minute each.
- Maximum win. A feature capped at a few hundred times the bet plays very differently from one that can reach several thousand. The cap shows how much of the price is riding on rare outcomes.
- Provider track record. Studios that publish full maths for every tier make the decision easier than those that do not.
- Buy RTP. Read the paytable and locate the return for the bought feature. If it is not listed separately, assume the base figure.
- Hit rate inside the bonus. Some features return something on almost every spin; others rely on one or two large events. Demo play shows this quickly.
- Tier structure. Multiple buy options with clear differences are a good sign; a single option with a vague description is less transparent.
Bankroll Rules That Actually Help
- Avoid the enhanced tiers until you know how the standard feature behaves.
- Decide the number of buys before the session, not the amount of money. Five buys at a fixed price is a concrete limit; „until I hit something“ is not.
- Keep the stake constant across every buy so the price stays predictable.
- Stop when the planned number of buys is spent, whether the balance is up or down.
- Check the published buy RTP and regard a lower figure as a genuine cost, not a rounding error.
Regional and Bonus Rules
Bonus buys are not available to players in the United Kingdom, where the regulator does not permit the feature. If you log in from one of those regions, the buy button is removed and the game runs in its standard version only.
At The Bonus Buy Slots, bonus buys are not permitted while bonus funds are in play. Using the feature with an active bonus can void the bonus and any winnings from it, so clear the wagering first or play with real money only.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I try bonus buys for free?
Yes. The Bonus Buy Slots offers a demo mode on its bonus buy titles, so you can see the feature with play money before spending anything.
Can I buy a bonus while a casino bonus is active?
Not at The Bonus Buy Slots: the feature is blocked while bonus funds are active, and using it anyway can void the bonus.
Is a bonus buy worth it?
It depends on what you want from the session. The published RTP tells you the long-run return; the volatility tells you how rough the road is. Neither makes a buy right or wrong by itself.
Does the buy price change with the bet?
Yes. The price is a multiple of the current stake, so raising or lowering the bet changes the cost in proportion.
Is a bought bonus the same as a natural one?
In most games, yes: the feature runs identically. Some titles sell upgraded tiers that start with a higher multiplier or extra symbols, and those are labelled separately in the buy menu.