⚠️ Bonus Buy — Understand the Risk First
Bonus buys cost 75–100× your stake to trigger the bonus instantly and this obviously increases session variance. It is possible to lose the cost of the buy and not get even a fraction of it back. It does not increase the expected value of your play, it only gives you a way to concentrate the variance of a single spin into the space of a single round. To be clear, it is a high risk, high reward feature. You should not be using it to play strategy. A quick bit of research shows that the UK Gambling Commission banned bonus buy features on games for UK licenced operators in 2019. Your local law may vary.
Is the Bonus Buy Worth It? A Slot-by-Slot Breakdown
The honest answer: mathematically, a bonus buy is neutral. The cost for each buy is calculated so that on average the returns from each buy is equal to the bonus mode return (RTP) which is only slightly higher than the base game RTP as you are paying directly for the most valuable part of the experience. On Sweet Bonanza, for example, buying 100× the stake on every spin gives an average return of around 97× the stake. And here again, the "on average" part is doing a huge amount of heavy lifting. Each buy will on any given spin return anywhere from 5× to 2,000×+.
The math of the feature buy is perfectly fair – so the real question is if it's right for you to pay 100× stake to skip trying to get into the base game. In our $1 spin session budget example, one bonus buy is only 20% of our budget and there are only three buys needed in total for a player to blow their session budget in attempts to get the feature buy. However, if our budget is $500, and we are looking to get 500 spins from our session, then we're given many more chances to hit the bonus in the base game, play through a high number of winning rounds and catch several features.
Bonus Buy Cost vs Expected Return — Real Figures
Here's the cost and the expected return of all the Bonus Buys in our library:
- Sweet Bonanza (100×) — 100× multiplier, $1 stake, $100 buy-in. Bonus RTP ~97% EV $97. $5–$2,000+ buy-in range. Recommended for: Players who felt the base game was too slow, and want a quicker, more action-packed experience while still getting value from the sweet spot.
- Mummy's Jewels 100 (75×) — $1 stake, $75 to buy. Inexpensive way to play the Hold & Spin mechanics with 30,000× maximum win potential. The best value play to buy when thinking strictly in terms of risk and reward.
- Treasures of Osiris (100×) — $1 stake, $100 per buy. Feature: expanding wild free spins. Bonus Buy is 96.52% base RTP (confirmed at the time of writing) and that figure carries through to the BB mode as well. So if you're into chasing the highest possible RTP then this could be the BB slot for you.
- Triple Pot Diamond (100× / 200× / 500×) — Three tiers: 100× gives random modifiers; 200× guarantees Super Free Spins; 500× activates all 3 modifiers from the start. Highest base RTP at 96.57% makes all three tiers mathematically strong.
- Steaming Reels (100×) — Single-tier buy guarantees Free Spins with the Golden Ticket multiplier mechanic. Clean, no-gamble entry point. Good for players wanting the train-themed feature without grinding scatters.
- Snow Party (200× / 500×) — 200× includes a gamble mechanic that can void the feature; 500× guarantees entry with ×10 Wild multiplier floor. Steep price relative to the 5,000× max win ceiling.
- Jelly Express (100× / 500×) — 100× guarantees Free Spins with 3 scatters; 500× guarantees a Super Free Spins upgrade on the first spin, activating the accumulating Total Multiplier. Wild Multipliers up to ×100 in-play. Hard 20× cap per round limits ceiling but keeps outcomes consistent.
- Idol Pop Fever (100× / 500×) — 100× gives a random 3–5 Scatter Free Spins entry; 500× (Super FS) guarantees a highlighted symbol on every spin with all Wilds at ×2/×3/×5 additive multipliers. No round cap — 5,000× max win fully accessible via the Super FS buy.
- Haunted Crypt (75×) — High volatility. Stake $1 to buy in $75 play. Features expanding reels free spins. The max win is lower than in Mummy's Jewels 100 (10,000× top prize). The 75× buy-in makes it the cheapest play-in option of all our games, apart from Mummy's Jewels 100.
- Wild Skullz (80×) — $1 stake: $80 buy. Sticky wilds format. Higher variance bonus — the wins are more binary than what we see in Sweet Bonanza. Players that prefer the wilds mechanics more than the multiplier bombs type of games might enjoy this one.
When Is a Bonus Buy Actually Worth It?
Where the Bonus Buy Really Pays Off – three cases in point. This feature is of course largely there for fun, but here are three scenarios where using the Bonus Buy feature is actually more than just a frivolous decision:
- Time-limited sessions — If we have only 30 minutes to play, then the price for the bonus is that we are guaranteed with at least one round of bonus action, and will thus not have to hope that the regular action time of the base game doesn't consume the whole time allowed for the session.
- Testing the slot's bonus — Before you start playing for real money it is worth doing 1–2 free mode bonus buys to check how the bonus plays out in practice. Is the distribution of wins OK for you? Also is the bonus fun to play? Doing this in demo mode is free.
- Drops & Wins qualification — If a Pragmatic Drops & Wins tournament is running and you need a qualifying win above a specific threshold in a limited time window, a bonus buy can give you more attempts at a qualifying result per unit of time.
UK Players: Why You Can't See the Bonus Buy Button
The UK Gambling Commission banned the bonus purchase feature for UK licensed operators in October 2019 under the Social Responsibility Code – Section 5.1.8. The Commission ruled the feature was a risk enhancement as it increases the speed of play, and eliminates the built-in pacing afforded to the player by the base game. The button is therefore disabled at any UK casino, and players are instead presented with a "not available in your region" message. The feature is available in most EU countries (with the exception of the Netherlands and Germany, which have implemented their own bans on this type of feature) as well as Canada and other international licensed markets.
Ante Bet: The Middle Ground
Some of the Pragmatic Play games that I've named have the Ante Bet option which acts as a stake multiplier of 1.25× your stake per spin. The effect is that it increases the frequency of scatter drops by something around 25–33% without being a Buy Bonus option. This is entirely legal in the UK and is open to the players in almost all jurisdictions where slot games are available. If you want to increase the chances of triggering a bonus in a completely organic fashion, enabling the Ante Bet is currently your most affordable way to get that increase. Math wise it's about paying 25% more per spin to scatter land about 30% more frequently which should be roughly break-even in terms of expected value for scatter hit costs; it keeps you playing in the base game and therefore keeps the natural gameplay intact.