Bonus Buy Bonus Buy (Feature Buy)
A feature that lets you pay a set multiple of your bet to jump straight into free spins or a bonus round. Also called feature buy, and banned in the UK since 2019.
| English | Bonus Buy (Feature Buy) |
|---|---|
| Classification | Game Features |
| English | Bonus Buy, Feature Buy |
| Category | Game feature |
| Price | Usually around 50-100x your bet (varies by game) |
| Early example | BTG Extra Chilli "Feature Drop" (2018) |
| RTP | Same as or slightly different from the base game |
| Banned in | UK (since October 2019) and others |
| Similar options | Ante bet, X-iter, xBet |
Overview
Bonus buy (Bonus Buy, Feature Buy) is a feature that lets you pay a set multiple of your bet in one go and jump straight into free spins or a bonus round. In Korea it is also called “free buy” or “feature buy.” Since you can reach the game’s core bonus without waiting for scatters, it comes almost as standard in recent slots, especially high-volatility ones.
On AI Slot, more than half of Pragmatic Play’s games (the “Free Buy” chip on the Pragmatic Play page) support bonus buy.
How it works
When you press the “Bonus Buy” button on the game screen, the price is shown based on your current bet. For example, in a game with a 1,000 won bet, if the price is 100x, you pay 100,000 won at once and free spins begin. Winnings afterward are calculated based on the original bet (1,000 won).
| Example games | Bonus Buy |
|---|---|
| Gates of Olympus | Buy free spins for 100x your bet (not available in the UK version) |
| Extra Chilli (BTG) | “Feature Drop” at 50x, RTP 96.82% when purchased |
| Pirots (ELK Studios) | Choose from several modes with X-iter, from 3x to 500x |
RTP of bonus buy
The bonus buy price is usually set to match the average value of the bonus, so the RTP when buying is designed to be about the same as the base game or slightly different. Pragmatic Play’s Book of Fallen game rules list 96.50% for the base game and 96.48% for the free spins purchase, while BTG’s Extra Chilli actually has a higher RTP when buying (96.82%) than its base 96.41%. You can check the exact figures on each game’s info screen.
However, even if the RTP is similar, the amount spent at once is very large, so results swing much more over a short time. The outcome of a single bonus can be far less than the price, or tens of times more.
Difference from ante bet
| Category | Bonus Buy | Ante Bet |
|---|---|---|
| Method | Pay a large amount at once and go straight into the bonus | Pay slightly more (usually 25%) per spin to raise the chance of triggering the bonus |
| Guaranteed bonus | Start right away | Only the probability goes up |
| Cost structure | Big all at once | Small extra each spin |
Names differ by provider: Nolimit City calls it xBet, Wazdan calls it Double Chance, and ELK Studios calls it X-iter, each offering a similar option.
History
Big Time Gaming (BTG) added the “Feature Drop” to Extra Chilli in 2018, which is cited as an early case that helped popularize the feature. Since then, almost every provider has introduced bonus buy, and it is now a standard feature of high-volatility slots.
Regulation
Bonus buy is sometimes regulated because it can lead to spending large amounts in a short time. The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) banned bonus buy features in October 2019. That is why the UK version of the same game has no bonus buy button. In other strictly regulated jurisdictions, versions without bonus buy are sometimes supplied as well.
Try it in the free demo
AI Slot’s free demos run on virtual credits, so you can try bonus buy and see how each game’s bonus plays out without any pressure.
However, PG Soft games do not support bonus buy in demo mode. The bonus buy feature itself is included in the real game, so AI Slot’s game info shows it as “Available (not supported in demo)”. In PG Soft demos, you need to collect scatters through regular spins to enter the bonus.
