I tracked 20 bonus buys to see if they actually pay

[lurker_dave_tx]

Been lurking a while, finally have a question. On a lot of slots there is a buy bonus button that lets you pay a fixed multiple of your bet, usually around 100x, to jump straight into the free spins instead of grinding for the trigger.

I tested it ten times on one game at $1 stakes, so $100 a pop, $1000 total spent. Out of those ten buys I had two decent rounds around $250 each and eight that came back under $40.

That left me down roughly $400 over the experiment. It felt like I was just paying full price for the variance without the slow base game cushioning the swings.

For anyone who uses bonus buys regularly, are you actually coming out ahead over time, or is it just a faster way to lose the same money?

[njdegenerate]

Your sample size is the issue, not the feature. Ten buys is nothing on a high volatility game where the profit lives in the rare 50x plus round that might show up once in fifty buys.

That said, the math is rarely in your favor. The buy price is set so the average bonus return sits a hair below what you paid, that is how the house edge stays intact, you are just front loading the variance.

I use them occasionally for the entertainment of skipping the dead base spins, never as a strategy to profit. If you are tracking dollars in versus out, expect bonus buys to lose at roughly the same rate as normal play but a lot faster.

[crypto_carl]

Agree it is faster variance, not better odds. The one practical thing I will add is that bonus buys eat a bankroll alive, so they are brutal if you are trying to clear a wagering requirement.

A $100 buy counts as $100 wagered which sounds efficient, but if you bust three buys in a row you are down $300 toward a playthrough with nothing to show for it. I cleared a deposit bonus way more reliably on small base game spins than I ever did buying features.

For pure fun on money you have written off, buys are fine. For grinding a requirement or stretching a bankroll, they are the worst tool you can pick.