Bonus Buy Slots
In many online slots, it can often take a long time to activate the bonus feature or reach a certain level where you have a winning edge. However, for players who have little time or patience, it can be a great advantage to proceed immediately to the bonus round. For this reason, software developers have created bonus buy slots that allow you to buy the bonus feature immediately.
Many game developers purposely make bonus levels difficult to reach so that players will keep playing longer. It would be too easy if you reached the bonus level right away! With the bonus buy feature, you don’t have to spend time slowly building up spins. You can just pay upfront, the scatter wild symbols show up and you go straight to the bonus round.
What are Bonus Buy Slots?
The concept of bonus buy slots was introduced by game developer Big Time Gaming. The slot machine White Rabbit was the first game on the market with the bonus buy feature.
It immediately became popular among players, causing several other developers to start adding the bonus buys to their slot machines as well. Now you can find the bonus buy feature in hundreds of online slots.
Most developers ask for 40x to 120x your bet. So you have to bet a little more money on these slots, but you can then immediately take advantage of the bonus round where you can score bigger winnings.
Recommended Online Casinos To Play Slots
 Casino Kingdom Review  (4 / 5) | Established: 2000 Owner: Fresh Horizons Ltd. License: Kahnawake, MGA, UKGC Casino Types: Instant Play, Download, Mobile, Live Dealer # Games: 735+ Min.Deposit: $10 Max.Deposit: No Maximum Support: Live chat, Email, Phone USA Accepted: No | Up To $200 Bonus 2nd Deposit Bonus and General TOS apply. WGR 200x. New customers only, 18+ |
 Casino Classic Review (4 / 5) | Established: 2000 Owner: Fresh Horizons Ltd. License: Kahnawake, MGA, UKGC Casino Types: Instant Play, Download, Mobile, Live Dealer # Games: 730+ Min.Deposit: $10 Max.Deposit: No Maximum Support: Live chat, Email, Phone USA Accepted: No | Up To $200 Bonus 2nd DepositBonus and General TOS apply. WGR 200x. New customers only, 18+ |
 Casino Action Review (4 / 5) | Established: 2002 Owner: Fresh Horizons Ltd. License: Kahnawake, MGA, UKGC Casino Types: Instant Play, Download, Mobile, Live Dealer # Games: 708+ Min.Deposit: $10 Max.Deposit: No Maximum Support: Live chat, Email, Phone USA Accepted: No | Up To $200 Bonus 2nd DepositBonus and General TOS apply. WGR 200x. New customers only, 18+ |
How Does the Bonus Buy Feature Work?
To know how the bonus buy feature works, it is important to understand how the RTP (Return to Player) of a slot works. All video slots have a house edge. This is a built-in mathematical advantage that ensures that the casino will make money from the game over a longer period of time.
Online slots games have a specific RTP instead of a house edge. The RTP is really just the inverse of the house edge because it indicates how much the player gets back over time while playing.
For example, the RTP of blackjack is about 99.5% and so the house edge is 0.5%. The best online slots have RTPs of around 98% and there are few slots where it is below 94%.
The Cost of the Bonus Round
The RTP of a slot without a bonus round is easy to calculate. However, adding a bonus round to the mix complicates matters considerably. A large percentage of RTP is allocated to the base game, while the rest is allocated to the bonus round.
In many games, players can get the bonus once on every 150 spins they make. A handful of those 150 spins result in a profit for the player, but the majority result in a loss. Developers can use this information to determine the cost of achieving bonus rounds.
As far as players are concerned, buying a bonus may make perfect sense if it costs less than the average price to spin the reels the required number of times to win a bonus round.
How To Activate The Bonus Buy?
If you want to use the bonus buy feature, all you have to do is select it in the game. The feature indicates how much of your bet you need to pay to activate it in multiples, for example 100x. This means that you pay 100 times the stake you are currently betting. So if you bet $0.20 per spin, this will cost $20.
Once the bonus buy feature is activated, you jump ahead to the bonus round and can play the set number of spins to win the bonus. This saves you a lot of time, but you should note that it does not improve your chances of winning the bonus.
Bonus Buy Slots Advice
If you are the type of player with a small budget, bonus buy slots are not always worthwhile as you usually have to pay around 100x your normal bet to buy the bonus buy feature.
This also applies to players who want to play mainly for fun. If your goal is to have a night of fun, of course you don’t mind that you need 100 to 200 spins before you unlock the bonus in the normal way through scatters. After all, the excitement and gameplay are the reasons why you chose this game in online casinos.
So decide carefully for yourself what budget you have and whether it’s worth it to buy the bonus feature. After all, you have to pay more for the buy-in while you don’t necessarily have a better chance of winning.
Some players consider the basic game of a slot to be a phase they need to get through as quickly as possible to get to the bonus rounds. The option to skip the base game and go straight to the bonus is a big advantage for those players.
Verdict
Depending on your budget, playing style and goals, the bonus buy feature can be a great option. Instead of having to wait dozens of spins before you get enough scatters, you have instant access to the bonus round.
The bonus buy feature is not always cheap, but bonus buy slots do have the potential to generate high rewards. However, this does not necessarily mean that your chances are better than during normal jackpot slots gameplay. From the point of view of odds, it doesn’t really matter much whether you choose bonus buy slots or not.