A rumor is circulating on various casino forums that “The United Kingdom Gambling Commission has asked specific software developers to stop offering the popular “Buy Bonus feature” to UK players.” This could also have a lot of influence in the future for what the gaming market will look like in the Netherlands in 2021. Starting in early 2021, the Kansspelautoriteit will issue licenses to reliable gaming providers.
Software companies such as Big Time Gaming and Blueprint Gaming will now have to give way or remove some casino games from their range in order to continue to exist at an online casino in the UK. The most popular video slots come with a Buy Bonus Feature. Take Big Time Gaming’s White Rabbit as an example.
What is a Buy Bonus feature?
The Buy Bonus feature is often found on titles from Big Time Gaming. Today it is also available on video slots from Blueprint Gaming and Yggdrasil. These companies have purchased a license from BTG to continue developing this feature. This feature allows players to start a bonus round on a video slot, but without activating it with the regular bonus symbols that are normally required for it.
Buy Bonus Feature at White Rabbit
To start a Buy Bonus Feature, you pay between 70x and 100x the bet that is currently active. In other words, if a player places a bet of €1, it will cost €100 to start the Buy Bonus Feature. The higher the stake in the base game, the more money it costs to activate it.
Why is the UKGC against the Buy Bonus feature?
You can activate the Buy Bonus feature at any time and it can add huge payouts to your balance. It is one of the main reasons why players like these video slots so much. The UKGC sees harm in it because it encourages players to place high stakes, which increases the risk of becoming a problem gambler. Some online casinos have never accepted this Buy Bonus feature because they thought in advance that the UKGC would not agree.
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What’s Next.
The Bonus Feature can be easily removed from the video slot as Blueprint Gaming points out. While this is good news, some of these games are so popular precisely because of the bonus buy-in. It remains to be seen if these online video slots will continue to exist and / if they will find something else to do with it.
For other video slots, this also means the end of the Buy Bonus feature: Extra Chilli, Book of Gods or Money Train. Although UK players will no longer be able to play on the bonus rounds, there is still hope that these casino games will be relaunched at the casino. Without this feature of course.
Big time Gaming and Microgaming have already confirmed that they are taking their casino games with Buy Bonus feature offline. The best advice we can give you is to check out online casinos with Big Time Gaming software to see if you can still participate in bonus games without having to buy in for them.
Summary
The Buy Bonus feature video slots were created by Big Time Gaming. From that moment on, several software companies have received permission (for a certain amount) to offer this feature on newly developed video slots as well. As a result, there are dozens of Buy Bonus feature slots available.
GamblingID.com understands very well why these bonuses can lead to gambling addiction. While you normally try to trigger a bonus feature with a low stake, it will now cost you 100 times as much. At the same time, it is extremely tempting to trigger a bonus feature if you never get the bonus symbols on the reels.