Has the Bonus Buy got banned in Slots?

Published
04/20/2021

If you have been browsing your favourite online slot sites such as www.slotsbaby.com recently to find that there have been several changes to them, then fear not for you are not alone. The United Kingdom’s main regulator of online slots (UKGC) has been tampering with the abilities that slot games can do for their customers.

You may be in a huff about higher bodies fiddling with the games that you love to play, but more often than not they are doing it for the good of their customers and to get those pesky slot sites off our backs!

One of the most recent changes you might be seeing, are the alterations to the much-loved bonus buy feature in slots. Regulators have not just changed them, the UKGC has wiped them clean from the face of online slot gaming!

What were Bonus Buy Slots?

Some of you who are newer to the games, or perhaps have even started playing them since the ban on bonus buy slots, we will clue you into a much loved and very helpful little function that most online slot games seemed to have which has now been removed by the UKGC regulators.

In short:

  • Bonus buy slots is a function in an online slot game that allows you to purchase the bonus feature of the game you are playing.
  • This effect, also known as the feature buy, essentially skips the wilds and scatters and gives you whichever unique bonus the game would have given you had you score them.
  • Bonuses are usually more free spins or multipliers, or something else exciting along those lines.
  • Buying in the bonus usually costs you more than a minimum wager, which might leave a few of you wondering why on earth anyone would choose the bonus buy?

Why did Regulators Scrap the Bonus Buy in Slots?

Where some of you may be thinking that the bonus buy looks like an absolute waste of money, others will be questioning why on Earth did UKGC get rid of those beloved bonus buys?

To them, we have the answer coming straight from the UKGC themselves:

  • It may be a little obvious, but as Britain’s largest regulator, they usually have gambling awareness at the forefront of their mantra. So, by removing the bonus buy feature (or simply banning the games that have it) they are attempting to prevent players from squandering more cash where they do not need to.
  • The thinking here is that the bonus buy feature is in effect to get customers to stay and to increase their wager. Some players have recorded losses of over £2K, and when the UKGC saw that it was down to the bonus buys they had to intervene.
  • Another reason is that it gives players with more cash an unfair advantage over those who are less fortunate. So, in an effort to preserve a good sport they have tried to make everyone equal.

 

Whether or not you care for bonus buy, we think that everyone can agree that the UKGC made the correct decision on this one!