Bonus buy slots have changed how many people play online slots. Instead of spinning until the bonus round lands naturally, players can pay to go straight to it. The feature spread like wild fire back in 2018 but then disappeared from all UK licensed casinos in early 2020 after the UKGC banned the popular feature. Below we explain what bonus buys are, where they came from and what has changed in UK slots since they went.
A bonus buy lets a player pay a set multiple of their stake, often 50x to 100x, to skip the base game and start a slot’s bonus round straight away. Big Time Gaming made the feature popular around 2017/18. UK licensed casinos removed it in January 2020 after a Gambling Commission warning. Later rules on game speed and stake sizes mean it has never returned to the UK market.
Latest Bonus Buy Casinos
What is a Bonus Buy Slot?
A bonus buy slot allows you to pay a fixed price to trigger the bonus round instead of waiting for it. In a normal slot the free spins or bonus game land at random, sometimes only once in hundreds of spins. The buy button removes that wait but at a cost.
How it works
- Choose your stake, as with any spin.
- Press the buy button. The price is shown as a multiple of your stake, for example 100x.
- Pay and the bonus round starts immediately.
- What you win depends on the bonus round itself. It can pay back far less than you paid for it.
How Much Bonus Buy Slots Cost
Most features cost between 50x and 100x the stake and some cost more. In Big Time Gaming’s Extra Chilli the buy starts at 50x and gets cheaper as special symbols land in the base game. When the Gambling Commission looked at UK sites in 2020 it found one game charging more than £3,000 for a single buy (Gambling Commission).
Cost comparison
The price of a feature buy is the stake multiplied by the buy multiple, so costs climb quickly as either goes up.
| Base stake | 50x buy | 100x buy | 200x buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10p | £5 | £10 | £20 |
| 50p | £25 | £50 | £100 |
| £1 | £50 | £100 | £200 |
| £2 | £100 | £200 | £400 |
| £5 | £250 | £500 | £1,000 |
A Working Example
This example uses illustrative figures only not real game details. So, a slot with a 100x bonus buy and a bonus round that lands naturally about once every 200 spins.
- Player 1 buys the bonus at a £1 stake. They pay £100 and go straight into the bonus round. Their whole £100 rides on that one round. With a 96.5% RTP on the buy, the average cost over many buys is £3.50 each (£100 × 3.5%). Any single buy could still return £10 or £1,000.
- Player 2 spins at £1 until the bonus lands. On average that takes 200 spins, or £200 staked. Small wins come back along the way, so the money actually lost is far less than £200. At a 96% RTP, the average loss over those 200 spins is £8.
The point we are trying to highlight is that the buy doesn’t make the bonus cheaper or more likely to pay. It swaps 200 small bets for one large one, so the swings are much bigger. That concentration of risk in a single bet is what the regulator objected to.
We have added a bonus buy calculator below to help you understand how much purchasing the feature may cost.
Bonus buy calculator
What would a bonus buy cost?
Cost of one buy
£100.00
£1.00 stake × 100
Highest stake within the cap
5p
At 100x, treating the buy as one spin
Illustration only. Bonus buys aren’t offered at UK-licensed casinos; the UK stake limit is shown for comparison. A buy’s result can be far below or far above its price.
Bonus Buys and RTP
The buy option often carries a slightly higher return to player than normal play. For example, Extra Chilli’s base game returns 96.15% to 96.41%, rising to as much as 96.82% when the bonus buy is activated. A higher RTP is a long run average not lower risk. Each buy is one large bet with a very wide range of outcomes.
Common Variations
- Dynamic price: the cost falls as certain symbols land, as with Big Time Gaming’s Feature Drop.
- Tiered buys: several bonus versions at different prices, with bigger features costing more.
- Ante bets: a smaller extra charge on every spin that raises the chance of triggering the bonus naturally. Related to bonus buys, but not the same thing.
Where Bonus Buys Came From
Big Time Gaming is generally credited with bringing the bonus buy to online slots through its trademarked Feature Drop system. The mechanic first appeared in the slot White Rabbit in 2017 and reached a wide audience with Extra Chilli which was released in 2018.
Across 2019 other studios added their own versions of the buy feature button and the mechanic became standard on most high volatility releases. Slot streaming pushed the feature to another level, buying bonuses on camera makes for fast, dramatic content and draws in thousands of views daily.
Bonus buy has since crossed into land based casinos. Aristocrat markets a buy-a-feature mechanic as “Instant Feature” and commentators note it caught on online before reaching casino floors.
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The UK Ban: What Actually Happened
Bonus buys left UK licensed casinos in January 2020 not October 2021 as many other platforms and pages claim. There was no single new law, the Gambling Commission said the feature didn’t meet its existing technical standards and operators removed it.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 17 Jan 2020 | The Commission finds six operators offering “feature buy-ins”, one charging over £3,000. It points to its technical standards, and all six remove the feature (Gambling Commission). |
| Jul–Sep 2020 | Consultation on the design of online slots (Gambling Commission). |
| 2 Feb 2021 | New rules announced: bans on features that speed up play or give the illusion of control, spins faster than 2.5 seconds, autoplay, and losses presented as wins (Gambling Commission). |
| 31 Oct 2021 | Those game design rules come into force. |
| 9 Apr 2025 | £5 maximum stake per spin on online slots for all adults (Gambling Commission). |
| 21 May 2025 | £2 maximum stake per spin for players aged 18 to 24. |
Why The UKGC Acted
The Commission pointed out two of its technical standards that were not being met. One requires the rules of a game to be clear and understandable before someone gambles. The other says gambling products must not encourage players to chase losses or raise their stakes.
The main concern was the intensity of the feature. The Commission said slots have the highest average losses per player of any online gambling product, at around £67 a month in 2021. A bonus buy concentrates many spins worth of stake into one large bet.
Why October 2021 gets quoted
The October 2021 rules banned features that “give the illusion of control”. Many writers treat that as the bonus buy ban, so the later date spread.
How UK Slots Have Changed Since
UK slots are now slower, lower stake and built without the buy button. The main changes you will notice are:
- Separate UK versions of games.
- Studios usually release a UK build with the buy option removed, alongside the international version that keeps it. The same title can play quite differently depending on where you are.
- Play became less intense.
- The Commission’s 2023 review of the 2020 changes found the share of very high stakes fell, fewer sessions lasted over an hour and there were no significant negative effects on play (Gambling Commission).
- Stake limits would block a comeback.
- Uunder the £5 per spin cap, a buy priced at 100x would breach the limit at any base stake above 5p. For under-25s on the £2 cap, the ceiling is 2p.
- A pull towards unlicensed sites.
- Offshore casinos now advertise bonus buys as a selling point to UK players. A PwC review for the industry body estimated unlicensed site use rose from 2.2% to 4.5% of UK online gamblers between 2019 and 2021. Players on those sites lose UK protections such as GamStop and complaint routes.
Below are two screenshots of the game Big Bass Halloween Splash by Pragmatic Play, the first one is the UK version and as you can see there is no bonus buy (Buy Feature) option, the autoplay and quick spins feature are also not available due to them being banned in the UK. Below is the international version where all features are available.
Big Bass Halloween Splash UK Version
Big Bass Halloween Splash International Version
If you are from the UK and want to enjoy these features legally for no money providers have demo modes available on their sites where you can play for free. On all of our slot reviews we also add the demo play mode for you to test and enjoy, head to our Slots Reviews section to find out more. Below is the Big Bass Halloween Splash demo below for you to try.
Common Questions About Bonus Buy Slots
Are bonus buy slots banned in the UK?
Yes, at UK-licensed casinos. Operators removed the feature in January 2020 after the Gambling Commission said it didn’t meet its technical standards.
When were bonus buys banned in the UK?
January 2020. The October 2021 date often quoted is when wider game design rules took effect.
Why were bonus buys banned?
The Commission said games must not encourage players to chase losses or raise their stakes, and buys let players stake large sums in one go. One game it found charged more than £3,000 per buy.
Do bonus buys have a better RTP?
Often slightly, because the buy option is priced separately. But each buy is a single large bet, so the risk per decision is much higher.
Can UK players still use bonus buys?
Not at UK-licensed casinos. Sites that offer them to UK players operate without a UK licence, so players lose UK protections such as GamStop and access to complaint services.
Could bonus buys come back to the UK?
It’s unlikely. Beyond the 2020 position, the £5 and £2 per spin stake limits from 2025 would cap any buy at a few pence of base stake.