Nothing ventured, nothing gained is at the heart of playing online slot games. As you learn how to play online slots, you’ll come across many other ways to understand the same premise.
Online slot features build on this concept, heightening both the venture and the gain. Bonus Buy slots and Gamble feature slots emphasize this idea to an extreme.
The idea in both of these features is that you take an additional risk to give yourself a shot at more valuable winnings. BetMGM makes it easy to evaluate the offers and decide whether they’re what you’re looking for.
What Are Bonus Buys and Gamble Features in Slot Games?
The Bonus Buy option and Gamble feature are slot features that give you a choice to increase your stake or risk winnings you’ve collected for an opportunity to receive an even larger payout. Slots with a Bonus Buy and slots with a Gamble feature mechanic function have different effects.
Both of these features are high-risk, high-reward, and are the kind of features you’ll find in high-volatility slots. For that reason, your knowledge of these game mechanics is crucial.
Bonus Buys: Instant Access to Bonus Rounds (for a Price)
When you buy a bonus in slot machines, you’re essentially purchasing a ticket to that game’s bonus round. Understanding Bonus Buy slots is, therefore, as simple as upgrading your seats at a concert or sporting event.
The important thing to remember is that buying into the bonus round just gets you straight to that action. It doesn’t alter your odds of winning during the bonus round.
The Gamble Feature: Double or Nothing (and Beyond)
All the top slots with a Gamble feature give you a chance to use the feature after you collect certain prizes. You can either keep what you’ve already won or risk those winnings for even more value.
If you opt for the Gamble feature, you need to remember that you could lose everything you’ve won. However, you only risk your winnings in these plays, not your bankroll.
Where You’ll Find These Features in Popular Slots
An online slot’s help files are home to online slot paytables and all the information you need as you play each game. Before you start the spins, check the help section of the game you want to play for these facts.
The help files will break down the cost of the Bonus Buy feature or the payouts that trigger the Gamble feature. You’ll also see which bonus rounds you can buy your way into or what prizes you might collect if you choose to gamble.
The Gamble Feature: High-Risk, High-Reward?
If the maximum in slot game volatility interests you, slots with Gamble features could be right up your alley. It’s difficult to find a more perfect instance of big, rare payouts.
It’s also important to observe the impact of Gamble features on RTP in slots. These long-odds payouts factor into a slot’s Return to Player.
Common Gamble Formats
If you opt for the Gamble feature, you’ll most often participate in a dedicated mini-game to determine the fate of your wager. Examples of these games include blind picking a playing card, “spinning” a prize wheel, and “rolling” digital dice.
The visual elements on the screen might resemble climbing a ladder toward a certain prize, or many other depictions of progress. Regardless of the presentation, your result is predicated upon chance, not skill.
When You Might Want to Use It (and When to Avoid It)
The Gamble feature is exciting because you’re risking winnings, not your bankroll. The worst-case scenario is that you lose all your winnings from the previous play.
You can avoid costly slot mistakes by weighing that risk against the state of your bankroll and your betting plan. For example, if you’ve had a run of bad luck, you might want to claim what winnings you can to offset your losses.
Can You Use Skill or Strategy With Gamble Features?
The role of skill and luck in slots is a matter that many players take time to get a good grasp on. Unless you’re playing skill-based slots, the outcomes of your plays are completely beyond your control.
Online slot strategies, particularly when you’re considering the Gamble feature, revolve around managing risk. You should evaluate whether taking the risk makes sense for your bankroll and your gambling goals with the Gamble feature, just as you would at any other time.
Should You Use Bonus Buys or Gamble Features?
While you can’t manipulate plays to boost your odds at slots, you can select a game and a bet denomination that comes close to the odds you want to play at. Even when you play at the most player-friendly odds you can find, there are never any guarantees that you’ll realize a profit from your gambling.
As you escalate your risk, you’ll need to win more to cover the cost of those longer odds. At the same time, if you want to try for those larger payouts, you have to accept the stated odds and meet the betting minimums.
A Bonus Buy slot demo can help you become more familiar with these risks without burning through your bankroll. In any case, your slot play should be entertaining.
The Case for Casual Players: Just for Fun
A big part of the fun of playing slots is the thrill of anticipation. While all the best Bonus Buy slots are visually appealing, that anticipation is just as important to the entertainment factor.
You can dial down or escalate that anticipation by managing risk. What’s important for responsible gambling’s sake, though, is to do so in a measured way and stay within your limits.
The Case for Strategic Players: Calculated Risk
Spontaneity can be fun, but winging it when you gamble is a quick path to blowing your bankroll, or worse. For people who prioritize building a sustainable gambling bankroll, these elevated risks can represent setbacks if luck isn’t on your side.
Such players should carefully consider the risk vs. the potential reward, then judge whether buying the Bonus or using the Gamble feature is a good value. That evaluation may change based on your situation.
Impact on Your Bankroll: What You Need to Consider
Like with your evaluation of bet sizes for slots, expected value is a formula that you can apply to help with bankroll management for slots. This formula consists of the odds of winning a bet and the amount of money that you’re risking.
You should also consider the overall state of your bankroll and slot session. If you’re nearing your loss limit, for example, that might not be the time to take a big risk.
Popular BetMGM Slots That Feature Bonus Buys or Gamble Options
BetMGM’s massive library of online slots is a great place to find slots with Bonus Buy chances and the Gamble feature. As the Circus Riches slot review points out, some slots offer both mechanics.
People interested in the Gamble feature might choose to play the Dazzling Sun slot for that and its relatively low volatility. Alternatively, the choice to play the Money Maker slot could allow you to experience the impact of the Gamble feature on a classic slot.
For Bonus Buy fans, the Cai Fu Emperor Ways slot review details how to use that option, while you can read up on a similar feature in the Professor BigWin slot review. All of these slots come with BetMGM’s trademark perks.
Final Thoughts: Are They Worth It?
To some degree, some people might make their evaluation of a Bonus Buy or the Gamble feature after seeing the result of their wagers. However, you should make your judgment based on the expected value, not the realized value.
BetMGM gives you plenty of opportunities to do so and play at your own pace, plus rewards for choosing BetMGM. As soon as you register for BetMGM and make a qualifying deposit, you’ll receive an incredible casino welcome bonus along with enrollment in the best casino rewards program available.
While buying a bonus or using the Gamble feature always includes risks, you can rest assured that you’ll get good entertainment value at BetMGM. Playing with any other online casino is an even bigger gamble.
