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A bonus buy, feature buy or "buy free spins" button lets a player pay a multiple of the base stake — commonly 100 times it, sometimes far more — to jump straight into the bonus round. The mechanic is popular for a reason that is also the reason regulators dislike it: it converts an hour of base game into a single decision, and it does so at the moment a player is least patient.
United Kingdom: removed by a game-design principle
There is no statute with "bonus buy" in it. The mechanic collides with a principle already written into the Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards: a gambling product must not actively encourage a customer to chase losses, increase their stake, or continue gambling after they have indicated they want to stop. The Commission had seen games charging over £3,000 to enter a bonus feature. The position was formalised through the wider online slots design changes of October 2021 — the same package that banned autoplay and set a minimum 2.5-second game cycle.
The consequence for a player is structural: UK-licensed sites serve localised builds with the buy stripped out, and operators must ensure prohibited mechanics are not exposed to British customers at all. The game you read about on an international review site may not be the game the UK build offers.
Netherlands: removed at licensing
When the Dutch market was regulated, the Kansspelautoriteit took the position that a purchase function for bonus rounds is not permitted, on the grounds that it encourages faster and more frequent betting. Licensed Dutch sites therefore run with the feature disabled. It remains available on sites licensed elsewhere — which is the whole point of the distinction, and also the reason a Dutch player who finds a buy button should read it as a statement about the site's licence rather than about the game.
Germany: removed by arithmetic
Germany did not need to name the mechanic. Under the State Treaty in force since 1 July 2021, the stake on a virtual slot is limited to €1 per spin, a mandatory five seconds must elapse between spins, autoplay is not allowed — the player must confirm every round — and playing several machines at once is prohibited.
A €1 ceiling makes a 100× feature buy impossible, because the purchase is itself a stake. The German regime is the clearest illustration of something players miss: a stake cap is not a mild inconvenience, it is a design constraint that removes entire categories of mechanic.
How to tell what you are actually playing
- The buy button's absence is a licence signal. If a game that has a feature buy everywhere else does not have one on the site you are on, you are almost certainly on a UK, Dutch or German build — not a broken game.
- Check the paytable, not the review. The in-game information screen describes the build you have been served. A review describes whichever build the writer opened.
- Expect the RTP to differ between builds too. Removing a feature changes the maths, and studios certify separate builds — see one slot, several RTP builds.
- Do not read a buy price as a value. A buy is priced from the feature's expected return, with the house edge applied to the purchase. It is not a discount on reaching the bonus, and in a high-variance game the distribution of outcomes is wider than the base game, not narrower.
What this does not mean
It does not mean a site offering feature buys is unlicensed — Malta and other authorities permit the mechanic, and plenty of properly licensed operators offer it. It means the mechanic is a jurisdictional marker, not a quality marker. What tells you whether a site is worth an account is licensing, published terms and a documented payment route — the three checks in how we rate.
UK stake scope is covered in what counts as a slot under the £5 limit. More mechanics are indexed in Slot Mechanics.
Sources
- CMS — October 2021 UK online game design changes: autoplay ban, 2.5-second minimum cycle
- Gambling Commission — consultation response on online games design and reverse withdrawals; RTS principle on encouraging increased stakes
- Online Casino Ground (NL) — purchase function not permitted on Dutch-licensed sites
- Legal 500, Germany: Gambling Law — €1 stake per spin, five seconds between spins, no autoplay, no parallel play
Read against the sources above on 27 September 2026. Where a regulator changes its position, this page will be revised rather than left standing.