Bonus buy slots let you pay a fixed price to instantly trigger the bonus round. That means you can skip the base game and dive right into the heart of the action.
We’ll explain how to buy the bonus feature and how much it typically costs. You’ll discover the pros and cons of buying the bonus when playing online slots, and we’ll also list the top five games to try.
What Is the Bonus Buy Feature?
The bonus buy feature is a special option that allows you to jump straight into the bonus round when playing certain online slots. You’ll need to pay a multiple of your bet to trigger this feature.
It’s often 50x to 100x your bet, but it can cost up to 2,000x on certain games. For example, let’s say you’re spinning for $1 per spin. The bonus buy feature costs 85x your bet, so you’d need to pay $85.
You normally need to land a certain number of scatters to trigger a slot’s bonus round. This can take a long time, so you need to be prepared to grind away while waiting for the scatters to appear on the reels. Bonus buy feature slots let you skip the grind, so they’re popular with players who enjoy short sessions.
The bonus round normally offers larger wins than the base game. You’ll normally receive a certain number of free spins, while features like multipliers, sticky wilds, expanding wilds, and fixed jackpots help you rack up larger payouts. Other slots have Hold and Win bonus games or pick-and-click rounds, but the concept remains the same: this is where you’ll find the largest potential payouts and the best features.
If you don’t want to wait to trigger the bonus round organically, the bonus buy feature is a useful tool.
How Bonus Buy Works
Activating the bonus buy feature is simple. Here’s how it works:
- Sign into your online casino account and choose a bonus buy slot.
- Select your bet size, such as $1 per spin. Hit the “Buy Feature” or “Buy Bonus” button.
- The funds will be deducted from your account balance, provided you have enough to cover the cost of triggering the feature.
- The reels will spin, you’ll automatically land enough scatters to trigger the bonus round, and the round will begin.
- If the round includes free spins, they’ll be played at your base stake. At the end of the bonus round, your winnings will be added up and credited to your account balance.
The return to player (RTP) rate can change when you activate the bonus buy feature. If you’d like to check the RTP, open the game rules or the information panel.
Is Bonus Buy Worth It? The Math
So, is the slot bonus buy feature worth it? On a single purchase, the answer is simple: it’s only worth it if you earn more from the bonus round than the cost of triggering the feature.
For example, let’s say you’re playing for $1 per spin. You can pay 100x your bet to dive straight into the bonus round, so that would cost $100. If you win $118.50, it was worth paying the fee. However, if you only win $68.20, you’re down $31.80, it wasn’t worth making the purchase.
The real difference is volatility. If you’re playing for $1 per spin, it might take eight or nine minutes to spend $100, as you’d need to spin the reels 100 times. By contrast, if you buy the bonus feature for 100x your stake, you’re spending the same $100 in one click.
If you only win $30, you’ll be down by $70 in under a minute. Meanwhile, if you win $500, you’re up by $400 in a similarly short time span. Using the bonus buy feature often leads to much wilder swings than simply playing the base game.
One advantage is that buying the bonus feature can reduce the house edge. For example, the house edge drops from 3.8% to just 2% if you activate the buy bonus feature on Money Train by Relax Gaming. Buying the bonus in White Rabbit Megaways changes the house edge from 2.76% to 2.23%, so that can be beneficial. Just bear in mind that the buy bonus option doesn’t eliminate the house’s mathematical advantage when you play online slots.
Pros and Cons of Buying the Bonus
The bonus buy option offers clear benefits, but there are a few potential drawbacks.
Pros
- Gain instant access to the bonus feature, without having to wait through dry spells during the base game.
- The buy-mode RTP is often slightly higher than the base game, which trims the house edge a little.
- It’s ideal for short sessions or for testing a slot’s bonus round before committing to it long term.
Cons
- The volatility is much higher, so it doesn’t suit players with modest bankrolls.
- It doesn’t remove the house edge, and on some slots the buy-mode RTP can be lower than the base game.
- Bonus buy features are often excluded from bonus wagering.
Popular Bonus Buy Slots
The bonus buy feature is now available on hundreds of slots, but a handful of high-quality games stand out. These are the best bonus buy slots to try:
- Sweet Bonanza (Pragmatic Play): This bright, candy-themed slot has a 96.5% RTP, a cascading reels feature, and a maximum win of 21,175x your stake. You can buy your way directly into the free spins round for 100x your stake. That will give you the chance to earn large payouts via multiplier bombs.
- San Quentin xWays (Nolimit City): Forbidding prison-yard visuals, a grizzled cast of inmates, and Nolimit’s trademark dark humor make this one of the most notorious slots ever released. The game comes with three bonus buy features, which cost 100x, 400x, or 2,000x your bet. You’ll trigger “Lockdown Spins,” with one, two, or three jumping wilds. San Quentin xWays has a standard RTP of 96.03%, but it increases to 96.26% for the 100x or 400x bonus buys or 96.95% for the top tier. The 150,000x max win remains one of the largest in the industry.
- Wanted Dead or a Wild (Hacksaw Gaming): Pistol-wielding outlaws duel under an eerie, blood-red moon in this stunning 5-reel slot, which has a 12,500x max win. There are three bonus buy features: The Great Train Robbery (80x), Duel at Dawn (200x), and Dead Man’s Hand (400x), which result in RTP rates of 96.27%, 96.33%, and 96.43%, respectively.
- Money Train (Relax Gaming): Robbers hold up a steam locomotive in a sun-bleached frontier town, and the Money Cart bonus is where the heist pays off, with “Payer” and “Collector” symbols stacking values across a 7-reel grid. Buying in for 80x triggers the Money Cart round, which lifts RTP from 96.20% to 98%, making it one of the most generous buy-mode returns in any catalog. The game has a 20,000x max win too.
- White Rabbit Megaways (Big Time Gaming): Head down the rabbit hole to meet Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the Cheshire Cat in this enchanting slot. You can increase the RTP from 97.24% to 97.77% by triggering the bonus buy feature, which costs 100x your stake. This is a Megaways slot, with 248,832 ways to win, and you can win up to 17,420x your bet.
Bonus Buy Restrictions to Know
Some crypto casinos don’t let you use the bonus buy feature when clearing the wagering requirements on a bonus. If you have an active bonus, you’ll often need to stick to a maximum bet rule, such as $5 or $10 per spin. Using the bonus buy feature would exceed that limit, so avoid playing bonus buy slots when working on wagering requirements.
Conclusion
The bonus buy feature lets you instantly access the best part of an online slot. Just pay a fixed price to skip the base game entirely and cruise straight into the bonus round. You’ll often benefit from a slightly higher RTP rate too.
It’s an ideal option for short, high-energy sessions or for trying a slot’s bonus round before you commit. Just remember that it dials up the volatility, so set a limit that suits your bankroll, and try to play games with above average RTP percentages.
The bonus buy feature lets you pay a fixed price to trigger an online slot’s bonus rounds right away, instead of waiting for scatter symbols to land. You can skip the base game entirely and go straight into the free spins round or the Hold and Win round. The slot’s developer determines the price, which is a multiple of your stake.
It normally costs between 50x and 100x your stake to buy the bonus when playing a slot. For example, if you’re playing for $1 per spin and the bonus buy feature costs 80x your bet, you’ll need to pay $80. Some games offer premium options, which guarantee extra wilds and multipliers, and they can run to 400x or more.
Buying the bonus is better than spinning for it if you’re looking for a short, intense session. It lets you jump straight into the bonus round, without potentially having to grind through hundreds of spins during the base game. However, it won’t suit players with small bankrolls or anyone who enjoys the anticipation of waiting to trigger the bonus feature.
No, most casinos won’t let you activate the buy bonus feature on a slot when you’re clearing bonus wagering requirements. Read the bonus terms before buying to confirm, and ask the customer service team for advice if anything is unclear.
Ilija is a CCN writer with 7 years of experience covering all things crypto. Ever since a fateful run-in with Litecoin in 2013, he's been an avid investor and writer in the space. When he's not maniacally hacking away at his keyboard, Ilija spends his time either hiking in nature or holed up in his apartment gaming.
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