Bonus buy, or feature buy, is a slot option that lets a player pay an up-front multiple of their stake — commonly 50x to 500x — to trigger the game's main bonus round immediately instead of waiting for it to occur naturally.
Definition
Bonus buy, or feature buy, is a slot option that lets a player pay an up-front multiple of their stake — commonly 50x to 500x — to trigger the game's main bonus round immediately instead of waiting for it to occur naturally. The purchase price and the bonus round's maths are set so that, over many buys, the return matches the game's overall RTP (sometimes a slightly different "feature buy RTP" is published).
It is a convenience and volatility-amplifying feature, not a positive-expectation shortcut.
Bonus buy sharpens a slot's risk profile: each buy is a large single stake with a wide range of outcomes, so bankrolls move fast and variance is extreme. Because of this, and because it can encourage chasing, several regulated markets have banned bonus-buy features outright or restricted them, and some studios ship separate no-bonus-buy versions of their games for those jurisdictions.
In context
For affiliates, bonus buy is a heavily searched feature and a common subject of streamer content, which makes responsible coverage important. Accurate content explains that buying the bonus does not improve expected value — the cost is priced to the same RTP — and that the feature increases how quickly money can be lost because it concentrates stakes.
Presenting bonus-buy results, especially large ones from streams, as representative is misleading and, in some markets, a breach of advertising rules that prohibit portraying gambling as a way to make money.
Bonus buy also matters for comparison and compliance content. Whether a casino offers bonus buy at all, and on which games, varies by the operator's licensed jurisdiction, so a review covering multiple markets should note where the feature is unavailable.
Bonuses and free spins usually exclude or restrict bonus-buy play in their terms (it would let a player convert bonus funds into a high-variance shot too efficiently), so wagering-requirement content should flag that. And because bonus buy is associated with faster losses, an affiliate aligning with responsible-gambling expectations will cover it factually rather than promotionally, and will not build funnels that lead with "buy the bonus" hooks.
Worked example
An affiliate's slot review states the game's feature-buy price is 100x stake at a feature-buy RTP of 96.0%, equal to base RTP, explains that buying does not raise the chance of profit and speeds up bankroll swings, and notes the feature is disabled in two regulated markets it covers and excluded from the welcome-bonus wagering.
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