What do bonus buy and feature buy mean?
The terms describe paying to access a slot feature directly. The purchase may be priced as a multiple of a displayed base stake. What is bought is entry to the specified feature, not a guaranteed profit or a promotional balance from the casino.
A feature may contain spins described as free because they do not require another stake within that feature. If entry has been purchased, the complete experience still has an upfront cost. Read the price as a financial commitment rather than counting the included spins as costless gambling.
This is different from a feature triggered by scatter symbols during the normal game. Our scatter guide explains why the required symbol count and any cash award must be read separately.
What does the Gambling Commission say about bonus buys?
The Commission's published case study describes an investigation into six licensees offering feature buy-ins. After considering RTS 3A and 14A, it required removal of the identified games in their current form and games with similar functionality. It also contacted further licensees to remove games with an option to buy a feature.
The current RTS 14A addresses product features that actively encourage loss chasing, increased stakes or increased spending, or continued play after a customer has indicated a wish to stop. The case study documents how the Commission applied the standards to feature buy-ins; it is more specific evidence than a general claim about a missing button.
This article concerns online slot services licensed for adults in Great Britain. It does not assess another country's rules, Northern Ireland's separate position or every product with an additional purchase. A lower price or a new label is not evidence that the described slot feature is permitted.
Was there one new law called the bonus-buy ban?
The primary evidence linked here is a Commission case study and its technical standards. The case study does not give the investigation's date. We therefore do not attach an exact start date to a supposed new statute or treat a date copied from a comparison site as verified.
The current responsible-design standards and the requirement for understandable game rules remain relevant. A source explaining another change, such as a spin-speed or stake limit, should not be presented as the direct text of the feature-buy action. Lowering the displayed base stake does not establish permission for the purchase.
Our licence-checking guide explains those checks and the difference between a brand name and the company licensed to provide the service.
How is a bonus-buy price different from the base stake?
Consider an invented international-style price of 80 times a 25p base stake. The purchase costs 80 × £0.25 = £20. The 25p is the scale used to calculate the price; it is not the amount committed by the purchase. This is an explanation of the notation, not an example of a product available to GB players.
| Invented purchase | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Displayed base stake | 25p = £0.25 | £0.25 |
| Purchase multiplier | 80 times the base stake | 80× |
| Total price committed | 80 × £0.25 | £20.00 |
| Total feature prize returned | Assumed for this example | £12.00 |
| Overall result | £12 − £20 | £8 loss |
Assume the £12 is the complete feature return and there are no other charges or awards. It is not £12 profit. Subtracting only the 25p base stake would ignore £19.75 of the price paid. If the base stake were doubled to 50p at the same multiplier, the price would become £40; this says nothing about whether the next result improves.
| Alternative total return from the same £20 purchase | Net result |
|---|---|
| £0 | £20 loss |
| £12 | £8 loss |
| £20 | Break even |
| £45 | £25 profit |
These are arithmetic scenarios, not possible-outcome claims about a named game. A real game's minimum return, maximum, feature settlement and price must come from its exact rules. Do not assume every feature can return zero or that a stated maximum is likely.
Is a bonus buy the same as free spins, an ante bet or a welcome bonus?
| Term | What it describes | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Bonus buy / feature buy | A paid shortcut into a specified slot feature. | Full purchase price and the applicable market's product rules. |
| Naturally triggered feature | A feature entered after the game's qualifying result. | Trigger, included plays and awards; earlier paid spins still cost money. |
| Promotional free spins | An award made under a casino promotion. | Eligibility, specified stake, eligible title, expiry and withdrawal conditions. |
| Ante bet / bet boost | An optional change to the paid spin, when offered by that version. | Extra cost and exact change in feature rules; do not assume immediate entry. |
| Casino welcome bonus | An account promotion, such as a deposit-linked award. | Eligibility, balance rules, wagering and payment-method exclusions. |
The word bonus does not make these interchangeable. Nor does describing a purchase as an ante, boost or continuation prove its availability on a GB service. Read the functionality and applicable rules instead of relying on its marketing name.
Our bonus-terms guide explains promotional free spins and their account conditions. Those conditions do not follow simply from reaching an in-game slot feature.
Does buying a feature improve RTP or guarantee a profit?
No profit guarantee follows from entering a feature. The result has to be compared with the full price paid. A prize larger than the displayed base stake can still be smaller than that price, as the £20 example shows.
Do not infer a purchase mode's theoretical return from the base game's figure, a different version or a supplier's headline maximum. A separately defined mode can have different rules and return information; ‘always the same RTP’ and ‘always a higher RTP’ are both unsupported universal claims.
RTP describes a theoretical long-run average, while volatility concerns the spread of outcomes. Neither can establish your next feature result or whether an upfront commitment is affordable. Our RTP and volatility explainers cover that distinction without presenting a percentage as a session forecast.
A highlight video is also a selected example, not a complete record of stakes and returns. Without the complete price, game version and sequence of outcomes, a feature win shown in a clip cannot establish profitability.
Why might a video or supplier page show a button your GB game lacks?
The material may describe another jurisdiction, version or product. A familiar title and identical artwork do not establish identical features. A supplier's international overview is useful for terminology but cannot by itself prove what a GB operator offers.
- Identify the exact game, service and market described by the material.
- Read the help for the actual version offered by the GB operator, including how the feature is triggered.
- Check the total stake and distinguish a normal spin from any separately described purchase.
- If the descriptions conflict, record the title, operator and relevant wording and ask verified support to explain the difference before staking.
Do not change location details, use a VPN or seek an unlicensed service to obtain a missing feature. If normal play does not trigger a feature, that is not evidence it is due; continuing to chase it adds further spending.
What should you take from this explanation?
- Feature entry, a cash prize and net profit are different things.
- A base-stake display is not the full price of a multiplied purchase.
- A naturally triggered round and a promotional free-spins award have different rules.
- A global product description does not establish a feature's GB availability.
- The Commission's documented removal action is the primary evidence for the GB position described here.
For the broader reading process, our guide to slot rules and paytables explains the stake units, matching rules and version checks. This page explains one term and its GB context; it does not list places to access a prohibited feature.
Related questions
What does bonus buy mean in slots?
It means paying an upfront price to enter a specified slot feature directly. The price may be a multiple of the base stake; it buys entry rather than a guaranteed profit.
Are bonus buys available at GB-licensed casinos?
The Gambling Commission has instructed licensees to remove games offering the described feature-buy functionality. It is not an option to expect on a GB-licensed slot service.
When did the UK ban bonus buys?
The Commission case study used here records removal action under RTS 3A and 14A but does not date the investigation. We do not infer an exact ban date or a separate new statute from it.
Does an 80× buy at 25p cost 25p or £20?
It costs £20: 80 × £0.25. The 25p is the base used in the price calculation. These are invented figures explaining the notation, not an available GB purchase.
If that £20 feature returns £12, have I won £12 profit?
No. If £12 is the complete return and there are no other charges or awards, the net result is £12 minus £20: an £8 loss.
Is a casino welcome bonus a bonus buy?
No. A welcome bonus is a casino promotion with eligibility and balance conditions. A bonus buy is a paid in-game shortcut. The shared word bonus does not make their costs or rules equivalent.