A bonus buy lets a slot player pay a lump sum to skip the base game and go straight to the feature round. The UK Gambling Commission reported in January 2020 that six operators had offered such 'feature buy-in' facilities, one charging more than £3,000 to enter a bonus feature, and that all six had removed them. The Netherlands' Kansspelautoriteit treats pre-bought games as automatic play, and Germany's 2021 State Treaty limits virtual slot stakes to one euro per game.
- UK Gambling Commission (17 January 2020): six operators offered feature buy-in on slots; one charged over £3,000; all removed it.
- The Commission instructed further licensees to remove games with the option to buy a feature, citing RTS 3A and 14A.
- The Dutch regulator says pre-buying games that must then be played out is automatic play, contrary to Article 3.8 of the Regeling kansspelen op afstand.
- Germany's GlüStV 2021 § 22a sets a 1 euro stake per game and a 5-second average game; the GGL now allows up to 3 or 5 euro under conditions until 31 December 2027.
On this page
- What a bonus buy is
- Great Britain: removed through technical standards
- The Netherlands: treated as automatic play
- Germany: no named ban, but the stake rules leave no room
- Worked example: one purchase under three regimes (illustrative)
- Offshore AU-facing sites: why the button is still there
- Why regulators object
- Questions readers ask
- Sources
What a bonus buy is
In a typical modern video slot, the feature round, usually free spins with multipliers or sticky symbols, triggers only occasionally from the base game. A bonus buy (also called feature buy or buy-in) adds a button that lets the player pay a fixed price, shown as a multiple of the current stake, to enter the feature immediately. Some games offer several buy options at different prices.
Mathematically the buy is usually designed to return roughly the same percentage as normal play, so the main change is not the long-run return but the size and speed of each bet. Instead of hundreds of small spins, the player makes one large purchase and gets a result within seconds. That is exactly what regulators focused on.
Great Britain: removed through technical standards
Britain did not pass a statute naming bonus buys. The Gambling Commission dealt with them through its existing Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards. In a notice published on 17 January 2020, it said it had found six operators offering 'feature buy-in' facilities on slots-style games, giving consumers 'the option of staking significant amounts of money to access the bonus feature'. One game charged more than £3,000 to enter the bonus feature. All six operators contacted 'have now removed it from their sites'.
The Commission's guidance to licensing authorities, published in April 2021, fills in the rest. It says 'the option of purchasing a feature in a slot game raised huge concerns linked to social responsibility'; that the six licensees were instructed to remove these products and 'any games with similar game features and functionality'; and that 'further licensees were contacted and instructed to remove games with the option to buy a feature'. The decision followed consideration of RTS 3A, which requires game rules to be easily available and understandable, and RTS 14A, which says gambling products 'must not actively encourage customers to chase their losses, increase their stake' or the amount they decided to gamble.
Britain then tightened slot design generally. Autoplay on online slots was prohibited from 31 October 2021, and RTS 14 now also requires a minimum of 2.5 seconds per slot game cycle, bans features that let the player shorten the time to a result such as turbo, quick spin and slam stop, and bans celebrating returns that are less than or equal to the stake. Since 9 April 2025 there has also been a statutory stake limit on online slots of £5 per spin for adults aged 25 and over, and £2 for adults aged 18 to 24 from 21 May 2025. Any purchase priced at many times a stake would run straight into that ceiling.
The Netherlands: treated as automatic play
The Dutch regulator, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), answers the question directly in its FAQ on game system certification. Asked whether 'bonus buys' or buying (bonus) games in advance is allowed, it says that pre-buying games that must then be played out 'is een vorm van automatische spelen', a form of automatic play, and that such an arrangement 'is in strijd met Artikel 3.8 van de Regeling Kansspelen op afstand', contrary to Article 3.8 of the Remote Gambling Regulation. The underlying principle, in the KSA's words, is that a player must be able to make an informed and considered decision 'voor elk afzonderlijk spel', for each individual game.
The Dutch reasoning is different from the British one. The objection is not to the size of the payment as such but to the fact that buying a bundle of spins removes the player's decision on each one. The certification scheme referred to on the same page, version 2.1, was published on 2 September 2024 and has been mandatory for certifications since 1 October 2024.
Germany: no named ban, but the stake rules leave no room
Germany's Glücksspielstaatsvertrag 2021 regulates 'virtuelle Automatenspiele', virtual slot games, in § 22a. Its text, as published on the Bavarian legal portal, does not mention bonus buys by name. What it does contain:
- § 22a(4): each game may only start on the player's own declaration after the previous game has ended, and automatic starts or consent to several consecutive games are prohibited.
- § 22a(6): a game must last on average at least five seconds.
- § 22a(7): 'Der Einsatz darf einen Euro je Spiel nicht übersteigen', the stake may not exceed one euro per game.
- § 22a(8): any win must be a pre-set multiple of the stake, and stakes or winnings may not be pooled to create prizes for future games.
- § 22a(10): playing several virtual slot games at the same time is prohibited.
The federal regulator, the Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL), has since allowed licensed providers to go above one euro in two steps: up to 3 euro for players who have turned 21, and up to 5 euro for players who have shown at least 90 days of play without signs of problem gambling, with special monitoring by the provider. Its FAQ, updated on 25 August 2026, says players have no entitlement to the higher limits and that the arrangement applies for now until 31 December 2027.
Whether German law 'bans' the bonus buy is therefore a question of how it is framed. Neither the treaty text nor the GGL pages consulted for this article name it. But a purchase priced at many times the base stake would be a single stake far above the limit, and the rule against consenting to several games in a row points the same way. The fair summary is that German rules leave no lawful room for the feature as it is usually built, without a provision that names it.
Worked example: one purchase under three regimes (illustrative)
The prices below are invented for illustration; actual buy prices are set by each game and shown in its interface.
| Scenario | Base stake | Buy price at 100× stake | Relevant limit | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Britain, player aged 30 | £1 | £100 | £5 per spin statutory limit; Commission instruction to remove feature buys | Not offered by licensees |
| Netherlands | €1 | €100 | Pre-bought games count as automatic play under Art. 3.8 | Not permitted by the KSA |
| Germany, standard limit | €1 | €100 | €1 per game (up to €3 or €5 under GGL conditions) | Far above any stake allowed |
| Offshore site serving Australia | A$1 | A$100 | No Australian game-design rules apply | Often available |
The last row is the point of difference for Australian readers.
Offshore AU-facing sites: why the button is still there
Australia has no licensing regime for online casinos. Under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 it is an offence to offer online casino and online pokies services to people in Australia, so there is no Australian regulator setting game-design standards for them. Offshore sites that accept Australians are licensed elsewhere, if at all, and the British, Dutch and German rules described above bind only operators licensed in those markets.
The result is that the same slot can appear in two forms. Studios that supply Britain, the Netherlands or Germany need builds that meet those markets' rules, while the version on an offshore site serving Australia can keep the buy button, larger stakes and faster play. When reading a game's info panel, it is worth checking which version is in front of you; the article on slot RTP versions explains how the same title can ship with different settings, and our pokies guides cover how to read game information screens.
Bonus buys also interact with bonus terms. A purchase priced at many times the stake will usually be far above a maximum-bet clause, so buying a feature while wagering a bonus can void it; see the max-bet rule.
Why regulators object
The three regimes reached similar outcomes by different routes, and their reasons are worth setting side by side:
- Stake size and loss chasing (Britain). The Commission linked feature buys to RTS 14A's ban on products that encourage chasing losses or increasing stakes, and to 'huge concerns linked to social responsibility'.
- Loss of per-game decision (Netherlands). The KSA's objection is that a bought bundle removes the informed decision a player should make on each game.
- Speed and stake caps (Germany). The treaty's one-euro stake, five-second average game and ban on consenting to multiple games all aim to slow play and keep each decision small.
All three rest on the same observation: the feature buy turns many small decisions into one large one, delivered quickly. For anyone choosing to play on an offshore site where the button is available, the practical safeguard is the same one these regulators built into law: decide the amount in advance, and treat a single buy as the large stake it is. The responsible gambling page lists tools that help, and Gambling Help Online is available on 1800 858 858. BetStop, the national self-exclusion register, covers licensed Australian wagering services but not offshore casinos.
Questions readers ask
Is bonus buy banned in the UK?
Feature buys were removed from British-licensed slots after the Gambling Commission instructed licensees in 2020 to take them down, citing technical standards RTS 3A and 14A. There is no separate statute naming them.
Why is bonus buy not allowed in the Netherlands?
The Kansspelautoriteit says pre-buying games that must then be played out is a form of automatic play, contrary to Article 3.8 of the Regeling kansspelen op afstand, because players must decide on each game individually.
Does German law ban bonus buys?
The GlüStV 2021 does not name them, but § 22a limits the stake to one euro per game (now up to 3 or 5 euro under GGL conditions until 31 December 2027) and bans consenting to several games at once, which leaves no room for a typical buy.
Why do offshore casinos serving Australia still offer bonus buys?
Online casinos cannot be licensed in Australia, so no Australian regulator sets game-design rules for them, and foreign rules only bind operators licensed in those markets.
Sources
Every figure and date in this article comes from the documents below; we re-check them when a source changes.
- UK Gambling Commission — Games warning for online operators (17 January 2020)
- UK Gambling Commission — Guidance to licensing authorities: higher risk products
- UK Gambling Commission — Online games design: summary of changes to RTS
- UK Gambling Commission — Prohibiting auto-play functionality for online slots
- UK Gambling Commission — Online slots stake limit guidance
- Kansspelautoriteit — Keuren spelsysteem (FAQ on bonus buys)
- GlüStV 2021 § 22a Virtuelle Automatenspiele — Bayern.Recht
- GGL — FAQ: Einzahlungslimit und Höchsteinsatz
- ACMA — About the Interactive Gambling Act
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