There’s a unique type of experience that nearly every slot machine player has had. At approximately 40 spins into a Session, the base game hasn’t provided more than a few moderate hits (lines) and now you’re looking at the screen and you’ll see a “buy Bonus” or “buy free spins” button. All you need to do is click that button, take a portion of your available balance, and you’ll be viewing the free spin Bonus round you may have been waiting to view for 200+ spins. The buy Bonus button is the very reason for the existence of Bonus buy slots; it’s also the primary reason for the intense debates surrounding them. Some players believe that the buy Bonus button provides a faster route to fun; while others believe that it provides an easier way to burn through their Bankroll. While both perspectives are correct, depending upon the manner in which you utilize the buy Bonus button.
Below is a straightforward and fact-based explanation of how Bonus buy slots work, what the mathematical reality is, and whether or not Bonus buy slots should be tried or avoided altogether.
What are Bonus buy slots?
Bonus buy slots are video slot machines that allow players to purchase access to the Bonus round directly for a fixed fee, thereby bypassing the natural process of earning the Bonus through gameplay. Depending upon the software provider, this is referred to as a buy Bonus button, feature buy, etc. Functionally, however, they are all similar in concept – you’re paying a set cost to instantly gain access to the Bonus round as opposed to naturally earning access via gameplay.
Software providers began incorporating this feature heavily around 2017-2018 primarily due to software providers such as Pragmatic Play, Hacksaw Gaming, Nolimit City, and Push Gaming. Today, the inclusion of this feature has become virtually standard for nearly every new release as opposed to being considered a novelty. If you’ve played a new release from the last couple of years with names such as Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza, or numerous clones that have followed, then you have probably viewed this button. The button is normally located adjacent to the spin button, often accompanied by a dollar sign ($) or coin symbol. Upon clicking this button, you’ll be presented with a menu displaying what cost you are required to pay and what benefits you receive.
As previously mentioned, there are two types of Bonus buy options in most games:
A straight/buy option – drops you immediately into the free spins feature/pick-me-Bonus.
Super/enhanced buy option – provides additional benefits such as guaranteed multiplier(s), increased starting value(s), etc.
How much does a Bonus buy cost?
Players are typically shocked when they realize the actual cost associated with purchasing access to the Bonus round. Generally speaking, Bonus buy costs can range anywhere from 50x your base bet up to 200x. Certain titles may charge even more for premium/epic versions of the feature. If you are betting $1 per spin, expect the basic Bonus buy to range between $50-$100, with the beefed-up version having better odds at large multiplier wins to land closer to $150-$200. Nolimit City software developers are particularly known for including multiple levels of Bonus buys in their products, allowing players to pay more to obtain better volatility outcomes within the Bonus rounds themselves. As stated earlier, I’d like you to sit on that number for a moment…
Mathematics & mechanics behind the button
Many casual writers fail to explain in detail that buying the Bonus does not alter the house edge. The RTP (return to player) advertised for a title is calculated across its entire life cycle (base game + Bonus rounds combined). The mathematics involved in creating Bonus buy slots ensure that the payment made for entry into the Bonus does not provide an advantage to the developer beyond what they originally intended to offer. Simply stated – dead spins during gameplay fundamentally support the potential value in the Bonus rounds. By buying in, you are merely making a lump sum payment for access vs. Smaller incremental payments over time.
Not always completely neutral
While not always perfectly neutral, a significant number of titles do publish slightly different Bonus round RTP values versus base game RTP values for the bought feature. These differences can go either way. Some studios will marginally lower the RTP of the purchased Bonus compared to the natural RTP of the base game, essentially charging a small premium for instant entry into the feature. Conversely, less frequently used than the first scenario are those studios who will offer higher RTP values for the purchased Bonus because they have deliberately designed their title so that the base game is very dry and want the purchasing option to feel more appealing.
Typically, you can find this information broken down within your pay table or info screen after you dig. Honestly speaking …some games provide slightly improved RTP when using the Bonus buy option; some slightly reduce RTP; many leave RTP virtually unchanged. Ultimately it boils down to per-game disclosure, with reputable studios providing numbers that exist. What buying the Bonus undoubtedly does is change your relationship with variance.
Variance: price tag
Each slot machine has an assigned volatility rating labelled as low, medium, high; or displayed using numeric scale. It describes how widely spread your expected outcomes are likely to be. Low-variability games provide moderate-paying hits often; high-variability games provide rare but extremely high-payoff multiples of your stake when they do hit. Almost without exception, Bonus buy slots are built around high-variability due to a high-variability game needs real upside sitting behind its feature-buy button in order to justify such a heavy investment by the player otherwise nobody would bother. Therefore, this is where a lot of the worth-it debate actually lives.
By compressing a huge amount of variance into One single event via buying into a high-volatility Bonus buy slot; rather than a hundred moderate ups and downs throughout a Session, you get One outcome that is either a big multiplier win or a total bust; sometimes landing under 1x your purchase amount meaning you paid $150 and got back $40. That’s not a bug; that’s exactly what high variance means when you remove the slow build-up surrounding it.
Compare that to naturally triggered bonuses which arrive with less predictability regarding timing but also same underlying volatility as the previous example; and you can see that the buy button doesn’t add risk so much as concentrate that risk into a shorter window of time.
What you’re actually trading
Beyond the marketing aspect of things …a Bonus buy is nothing more than a trade of money for time plus a trade of certainty for control. You’re not buying better odds …you’re buying instant access to the part of the game with the highest potential swing and removing the uncertainty of whether or not you’ll ever even view the Bonus round naturally during your Session. For some players …that trade is obviously worthwhile …for other players …obviously not …and the honest answer depends on what you want from a Session.
A few things tend to separate players who feel good about utilizing this feature from those players who regret doing so:
Session goals: someone looking to spend thirty minutes on their lunch break wants time-efficient gameplay not a long grind and the Bonus buy gives them exactly that.
Bankroll size relative to cost: a $150 purchase needs to be able to fit inside a small fraction of your overall Session Bankroll not represent a make-or-break wager.
Risk tolerance: watching a $200 purchase return a $60 profit is going to ruin somebody’s night …if you fall into this category then this feature wasn’t built for you.
Selection of titles: games centered around big-hit free spins features/titles that reward buyers more than titles where most of the value lies in their base game.
Frequency: buying once every now and again as a treat is One thing …but buying every Session as habitual behavior punishes mathematically far more than occasional use.
Pros and cons without sales pitch
On the positive side …you avoid hundreds of dead spins and land directly in the part of the game most players came for. It’s well-suited for short adrenaline sessions where patience is not required due to lack of time and removes frustration caused by viewing a dead base game for twenty minutes straight.
There’s also a psychological angle worth naming honestly: knowing your outcome within seconds rather than dragging out hours appeals to specific types of players and there’s absolutely no problem with preferring that pacing.
When to use Bonus buys and when not to use them
High-variability/Bonus-centric titles featuring clearly defined free spins features are best suited for use of this feature. Titles where multipliers/sticky wilds/expanding symbols etc. Accumulate during both the base game and the free spins feature are constructed with the buy button in mind and using this type of title feels like you’re playing it correctly rather than working around it.
Conversely, titles featuring strong/well-designed base games paying consistently on their own are usually better played normally since you’ll be paying a premium to skip a portion of the game that was worth playing.
Ultimately, bankroll size determines whether or not you should consider using this feature and it’s not close. One reasonable rule of thumb that experienced players may apply is never letting any single Bonus buy exceed approximately 2% – 5% of your Session Bankroll and treating each individual buy as if it were your entire bet amount (vs additional regular spins) rather than part of it. If a $150 purchase represents greater than 33% of what you bring to the table …then that’s probably a sign to pass-on this feature and continue to play the base game until you reach your target …or reduce your bet amount until the cost associated with buying decreases proportionately with your reduced betting amount.
Crypto casinos etc …platforms offering these titles rarely interfere w/player discipline …therefore the discipline must come from the player themselves.
Additionally responsible gambling habits matter more here than almost anywhere else in online slots specifically due to the fact that this feature condenses risk into individual larger decisions rather than distributing it out over time.
Setting hard caps on how many times you plan on making this purchase during your Session …treating each individual purchase as self-stand alone bet(s) you are fully prepared to lose …stepping away from a Session after set # of misses are examples of guard rails that keep this feature fun rather than costly.
