Guide · Updated July 2026
A bonus buy — also marketed as a "feature buy," "feature drop" or simply a buy-in button sitting next to the normal spin button — is an option built into certain modern video slots that lets you skip the process of spinning the base game over and over hoping to land the scatter symbols that naturally trigger the free spins or bonus round. Instead, you pay a fixed multiple of your current stake upfront, and the game takes you directly into that bonus feature on the very next spin. If your stake is R10 and the bonus buy costs 100x, you pay R1,000 once, and the free spins or pick-a-prize round starts immediately, no scatter symbols required.
The feature exists because bonus rounds are, for a large share of slot players, the actual reason they enjoy a title in the first place. Base-game spins on most modern slots are relatively low-variance filler between the moments that matter — the free spins round with stacked multipliers, the pick-a-box bonus, the tumble sequence with an escalating multiplier trail. A natural trigger for that round might statistically occur, depending on the specific game, somewhere in the range of once every 100 to 400+ base spins, and for players who specifically want to experience the bonus content without grinding through hundreds of small-stake base spins first, the buy option offers a direct route in.
It's important to understand what a bonus buy does and does not guarantee. Paying for the feature buy guarantees entry into the bonus round itself — the free spins will start, the pick-a-prize screen will appear, whatever the specific mechanic is. It does not guarantee a win, and it certainly does not guarantee a win larger than what you paid. The outcome of the bonus round once you're inside it is generated by the same random number generator (RNG) governing every other spin in the game; buying in does not shift the odds of any individual multiplier, symbol or prize landing in your favour. You're paying for guaranteed access to the feature, not a guaranteed profitable outcome once you're there.
The numbers that matter
Bonus buy prices are typically quoted as a multiple of your current stake, commonly somewhere between 40x and 100x depending on the provider and the specific title. A R20 stake with a 75x bonus buy costs R1,500 for that single entry into the feature.
If a game's bonus round naturally lands, on average, once every 150 base spins at your chosen stake, then 150 base spins at that same stake is roughly what you'd expect to pay, over time, to reach the feature the "slow" way — with the added benefit that some of those 150 spins will land smaller wins along the way, softening the total cost.
Providers calibrate feature-buy pricing against the game's own return-to-player (RTP) model so that, mathematically, buying the feature repeatedly over a very large number of attempts tends to land close to the same long-run RTP as playing the base game normally. It is priced as a shortcut to the same odds, not as a discounted or "better value" route to a win.
Because you're paying a large lump sum for a single concentrated shot at the feature, your results will swing harder — a poor bonus round burns through a big chunk of a session's budget in seconds, while a strong one can pay out fast. Compare that to grinding the base game, where losses and wins are spread thinly across many more individual spins.
The multiplier, the minimum and maximum stake eligible for a buy, and even whether the option is offered at all varies title by title and, in some cases, casino by casino or jurisdiction by jurisdiction. Never assume one game's bonus buy pricing applies to another.
Mzansi Pro-Tip
Before you tap any bonus buy button, work out the rand value, not just the multiplier. A "60x" buy button looks harmless as a number, but at a R50 stake that's a R3,000 single wager — treat it with exactly the same bankroll discipline you'd apply to any other large single bet, not as a routine part of casual play. See our bankroll management guide for a framework on sizing any single wager against your total session budget.
Not every online casino or every jurisdiction permits bonus buy features, and availability can and does change. Some regulators have restricted or banned the option outright over concerns about how quickly it lets a player stake large sums with the appearance of a shortcut to a win; other markets allow it freely, sometimes with additional disclosure requirements attached. Because rules differ by region and by operator, and because individual casinos can choose to disable the feature even on titles where the game studio built it in, you should never assume a bonus buy button will be available on a given slot at a given casino — check the game itself once loaded, since the option (if offered) typically appears as a clearly labelled button near the spin control, often with its own cost displayed before you confirm.
This is also a good moment to check a title's paytable or information screen for the specific cost and rules attached to that game's bonus buy, since providers are generally required to disclose the multiplier clearly within the game itself. If you can't find clear bonus buy pricing information in the paytable, treat that as a signal to be cautious rather than assuming a "standard" price applies — pricing is genuinely not standardised industry-wide.
Playing the base game and waiting for a natural trigger has one significant advantage that's easy to overlook once you start thinking purely in terms of speed: it spreads your risk across many individual small-stake decisions rather than one large one. Across, say, 150 base spins at a R10 stake, you're likely to land a handful of smaller wins along the way even before any bonus round triggers, which softens the total amount you're down at the point the feature does arrive. A bonus buy skips that entirely — you go straight from "haven't started" to "fully committed" in one click, with none of the smaller wins that would ordinarily cushion a longer session.
There's also a practical session-length consideration. If your goal for a sitting is genuinely to experience more base-game spins — trying out a title's core mechanics, its tumble or Megaways engine, its symbol design — a bonus buy actually works against that goal, since it uses up a large chunk of budget in one purchase rather than stretching it across dozens or hundreds of individual spins. Conversely, if your specific goal is purely to see a title's bonus round content without a long grind (useful, for instance, if you're evaluating a new game before committing a full session to it, or you're on a short break and don't have time for extended base-game play), a bonus buy does exactly what it says on the label. For a general primer on how these bonus-round mechanics work across formats like Megaways and cluster pays, see our Megaways slots guide and our cluster pays vs payline slots comparison.
Multiplier-heavy titles are especially worth understanding before you buy in, since the swing between a poor and a strong bonus round tends to be largest on games where multipliers stack or escalate through the feature. Our multiplier slots explained guide covers how stacking multiplier symbols and tumble multipliers work on titles like Gates of Olympus, which is useful context for understanding why bonus round outcomes on multiplier-driven games can vary so widely even though the buy-in price itself is fixed.
Because a bonus buy concentrates a meaningful chunk of stake into a single wager, it deserves more deliberate budgeting than an equivalent amount spread across ordinary spins. A sensible approach is to decide, before you start a session, whether bonus buys are part of your plan at all, and if so, to set a hard cap on how many buy-ins you're willing to make and treat that cap the same way you'd treat any other session limit — as a stopping point, not a suggestion. Chasing a poor bonus round result with a second or third buy-in in quick succession is one of the fastest ways a session's budget disappears, precisely because each individual buy-in is already a large stake relative to a normal spin.
It's also worth being honest with yourself about why you're reaching for the buy option in a given moment. Using it occasionally to see a feature you're curious about, within a budget you'd already set aside for entertainment, is very different from using it repeatedly because base-game spins "aren't triggering" and frustration is driving the decision. If you notice the second pattern creeping in, that's worth treating as a signal to step away rather than buy in again. Our problem gambling warning signs guide and gambling budget guide both cover practical ways to keep any form of play, bonus buys included, within limits you set in advance rather than in the moment. If you ever feel that gambling of any kind, including bonus buy features, is becoming difficult to control, free and confidential support is available around the clock from the National Responsible Gambling Programme on 0800 006 008.
Finally, remember that a bonus buy is one tool among many for engaging with a slot's content, not a requirement. Demo or free-play modes, where available, let you see a title's bonus round mechanics without staking real money at all — a genuinely useful way to understand whether a game's feature content is even something you'd want to buy into before ever risking a rand on it. Check our demo mode guide for more on using free play to evaluate a title first.
Bonus buy functionality is a feature built into specific game titles by the studios that develop them, so its presence depends entirely on which games a given online casino has licensed into its library, and whether that casino has chosen to keep the buy option switched on for South African players. If a bonus buy option matters to you, the simplest approach is to load a specific title's demo or real-money version directly and look for the buy button near the spin control, since availability isn't something a casino advertises uniformly across its whole slots section. For general guidance on evaluating any slot before you commit real money to it — bonus buy or otherwise — see our guide on choosing a safe online casino, which covers licensing checks that apply just as much to the games you play as the casino itself.
Before you buy in
No. A bonus buy guarantees entry into the bonus round or free spins feature, not a winning outcome. The result inside the feature is still generated by the same random number generator as any other spin.
Costs are usually quoted as a multiple of your current stake, commonly somewhere between roughly 40x and 100x, though the exact figure varies by game and provider. Always check the specific title's paytable for its actual price before buying.
Not inherently. Providers generally calibrate bonus buy pricing to align with the game's own long-run RTP model, so over a large number of attempts the two approaches tend toward similar outcomes on average, though the buy option concentrates the cost into fewer, larger events.
No. Availability depends on the specific game, the game provider, and rules in the operator's licensing jurisdiction — some regions restrict or disallow the feature. Always check within the individual game itself rather than assuming it's available.
Some game studios simply don't build the feature into certain titles, and some casinos or jurisdictions disable it even where it exists, often due to regulatory restrictions on the mechanic in specific markets.
The bonus buy typically has its own RTP figure that can differ slightly from the base game's RTP, since it's a distinct way of engaging with the feature. Check the individual game's paytable or info screen for details specific to that title.
You can lose a larger amount in a single wager, yes, since a bonus buy concentrates many spins' worth of stake into one purchase. Over a long run the average cost tends to align with base-game play, but any single buy-in carries more variance than a single ordinary spin.
New players are generally better served learning a title through ordinary base-game spins or demo mode first, since bonus buy concentrates risk into a single large wager that's easier to misjudge before you're familiar with how a specific game's feature round behaves.