Bonus buy pokies in Australia: pay to skip the wait

How a bonus buy works

On a pokie that has one, the buy button sits on the game screen. Press it and the game charges a set multiple of your current bet, skips the base game and starts the feature straight away. On Gates of Olympus 1000 the price is 100x: A$20 at a 20c bet, A$100 at A$1. The round then plays at that bet level, exactly as if the scatters had landed on their own.

Bonus buy, feature buy and buy bonus all mean the same thing. What varies is the menu:

• Standard free spins, usually 100x the bet.
• A pricier second option: 450x super free spins on Big Bass Bonanza 1000, 500x on Sweet Bonanza 1000 and Gates of Olympus Super Scatter, and 150x and 500x steps on 5 Lions Megaways 2.
• Respin features, which some BGaming games sell for less than their free spins: the Gold Respin on Gold Rush with Johnny Cash costs 40x.

Not every pokie has a buy. The 2020 Big Bass Bonanza, Wolf Gold, Book of Dead and Elvis Frog in Vegas don’t. SafeCasino files buy games under a Bonus Buy section of the lobby, but some games that have a buy in the provider’s build, including the BGaming titles below, sit in other sections. We couldn’t confirm the button is switched on for those at SafeCasino, so the game screen is the final word.

Buy prices and RTP, game by game

Each provider’s own game build lists an RTP for normal spins and a separate one for each buy, measured against the buy price. These were checked on 18 and 19 Sep 2026:

On the BGaming rows, the first price is free spins and the second is the respin feature. Aloha King Elvis gives two RTPs for its free-spins buy because it has two free-spin modes. Belatra’s Dragon’s Bonanza, also in the Bonus Buy section, sells a “Craft Bonus” but doesn’t publish the price.

The Pragmatic Play rows tell one story: every buy returns within 0.02 points of normal spins. There, a buy isn’t a better deal or a worse one. You’re paying for speed.

Feature buy maths: what 100x costs in A$

The price scales with your bet, so the bet you pick before pressing buy sets everything else. Here’s a 100x buy next to a 500x one, and how far A$200 goes:

The average cost of a buy is the price times what the RTP leaves out. At 96.5%, a A$10 buy costs 35c on average and a A$100 buy A$3.50. That’s the same average cost as spinning A$100 through the base game at the same RTP. The difference is the ride: 500 spins at 20c give you hundreds of small results, one A$100 buy gives you a single one.

The average also hides the spread. One buy can return a fraction of its price or many times it, and ten buys are far too few for the RTP to show up. Our rule of thumb: keep each buy at 5% of your balance or less. On A$200 that’s A$10, a 10c bet on a 100x game, which gives you around 20 tries before the balance is gone even if nothing lands. Size up to a A$1 bet on the same A$200 and you get two tries.

When buying the feature pays

Buying is cheaper than spinning only where the provider pays a higher RTP on the buy than on normal spins. On the titles we checked, two BGaming games clearly do, and one Pragmatic buy edges ahead. The two BGaming games sit outside SafeCasino’s Bonus Buy section, so open one and check the buy button shows before you plan around it:

• Aloha King Elvis is the clear case. Normal spins return 94.98%; the 48x free-spins buy returns 97.13% or 98.69% depending on the free-spin mode, and the 40x Coin Respin buy 96.87%. At a A$1 bet, a A$48 buy at 98.69% costs about 63c on average, while A$48 of normal spins at 94.98% costs about A$2.41.
• Alchemist Bonanza, one of SafeCasino’s Safe Originals, returns 96.11% on spins and 96.52% on its 100x buy.
• Sweet Bonanza 1000’s 500x buy edges its spins, 96.55% against 96.53%, though at 500x the swings are huge.

And where buying costs more: Gold Rush with Johnny Cash returns 96.14% on spins but 96.01% on its free-spins buy and 95.91% on the Gold Respin buy. On a cheap 40x entry that gap is small money, but it’s still the wrong direction.

Everywhere else, the honest answer is that buying changes the pace, not the price. It suits you if the base game bores you and your balance can take a run of cold features. It doesn’t suit a small balance: A$20 is 100 spins at 20c, or one 100x buy at 20c that can be over in seconds. Every pokie at SafeCasino has a demo mode, so run ten demo buys first and watch how widely the results spread; free pokies covers demo play.

Bonus buys for real money: the A$8 rule

The welcome bonus and bonus buys don’t mix well. While any bonus is active, SafeCasino caps every bet at A$8, and its terms count feature buys and gamble features toward that cap. A buy counts as one bet at its full price, so:

• A 100x buy fits only at 8c a spin or less, and only if the game’s bet ladder goes that low.
• A 450x buy would need a bet of about 1.8c or less, and a 500x buy 1.6c or less.
• Breaking the limit can cost you the bonus and what it won. Real money is bet before bonus money, but the cap applies for as long as the bonus is active.

That leaves you a clean choice for each deposit, and it has to be made before you pay, because the welcome card can’t be added afterwards. Tick the card and play normal spins at A$8 or less until the x40 wagering is done. Or skip the card on that deposit and buy freely with your own cash. Each of the four welcome stages stands alone, so skipping the card on one deposit costs you only that stage; the others stay open. The wagering requirements guide shows what x40 means in dollars, and the welcome bonus page lists the stages.

A bonus also ends by itself once its balance falls to A$0.05 or less, and from then on the A$8 cap no longer binds. Check the bonus section of your profile before your first buy, then open the SafeCasino cashier with the plan already made.

Bonus buy pokies for Australians: five worth a look

• Gates of Olympus 1000 is the benchmark 100x buy, 96.49% on the buy and a 15,000x top win. Our Gates of Olympus guide covers the multiplier orbs.
• Sweet Bonanza 1000 gives a choice of 100x or 500x, both near 96.5%, and a 25,000x ceiling. The Sweet Bonanza guide weighs its ante bet against the buy.
• Big Bass Bonanza 1000 sells 100x free spins or 450x super free spins at 96.51%, with a 20,000x top win. The Big Bass Bonanza guide explains the fisherman.
• Aloha King Elvis has the cheapest entry in the table, 40x to 48x, and the best buy RTP, with a lower 2,000x ceiling to match. It sits outside the Bonus Buy section, so check for the buy button in the game.
• Alchemist Bonanza, from SafeCasino’s Safe Originals section, has a 100x buy that returns more than its spins.

Sugar Rush 1000 also sits in the Bonus Buy section with 100x and 500x options; its RTP depends on the version, which the Sugar Rush guide untangles. For the rest of the lobby by mechanic, start at the online pokies hub, and when you’re set, browse the Bonus Buy section at SafeCasino.