Bonus buys: what do they cost, and can the jackpot still trigger?

A bonus buy has a separate entry price, and paying it does not automatically include jackpot access. In the Almighty Buffalo King Jackpot Royale rules examined here, the buy costs 100 times Total Bet and excludes progressive pots and jackpot features during Bonus Buy play.

This example comes from White Hat Studios’ official rules PDF, marked 03/20/2024 v4.0. Its Bonus Buy section is subject to operator configuration and jurisdictional requirements. The document does not establish whether that option is available in your state or matches your current game. No game was played for this guide.

Which amount does the price multiply?

In this document, Total Bet is the reference amount for the 100-times price. A small number beside Total Bet therefore does not, by itself, describe the cost of entering the bought feature.

Use the wager named in the pricing rule. A line bet, credit value or jackpot amount is a different possible number; substituting one changes the calculation. Our credits and total-bet guide explains those units.

Also check what that multiplied price covers: does the quoted amount describe the complete entry charge, or do the rules identify another charge? Establish the full amount before calculating a balance change. The example below states that assumption explicitly rather than inventing a second charge for the documented game.

A feature return is not the same as a profit

Here is a hypothetical teaching example, not a stake list or result from Almighty Buffalo King Jackpot Royale. Assume a fictional $0.20 reference Total Bet, a complete entry charge of exactly 100 times that amount, and a total feature return of $8.00. There are no other charges, wagers, awards or balance adjustments.

Item	Calculation	Amount
Reference bet	Assumed	$0.20
Entry charge	100 × $0.20	$20.00
Feature return	Assumed	$8.00
Net change	$8.00 − $20.00	−$12.00

The $8.00 return does not recover the $20.00 charge. Subtracting only the $0.20 reference bet would miss most of the cost being measured.

The table supplies one invented return, not a typical result, an expected payout or a probability. A price formula alone cannot tell you how much the feature will return.

Can the bought feature trigger a jackpot?

For this example, the Bonus Buy section on PDF page 2 states two separate restrictions:

• Bonus Buy wagers do not contribute toward progressive jackpots or jackpot features.
• Progressive pots and jackpot features cannot trigger during Bonus Buy play.

Contribution concerns funding; a trigger restriction concerns access to the award or feature. Here the rules address both. Do not replace those clauses with a guess that the larger payment must include the jackpot.

The same PDF’s Jackpot Royale section describes its pot system as available on any stake on games connected to that system. That broad stake statement does not remove the explicit Bonus Buy exclusion. In this document, the mode matters as well as the wager.

Our jackpot eligibility guide explains the wider distinction between qualifying, triggering and the amount awarded. This one exclusion is not a rule for every game with a bonus-buy option.

What does the purchase actually guarantee?

In the documented base game, activating the Bonus Bet produces a spin with at least three Scatter symbols, starting Free Spins. That guarantee concerns entry into the feature. The rule does not state a guaranteed profit.

Free Spins is the name of the feature reached after that paid entry. The name does not make the purchase cost disappear from the calculation.

Neither the 100-times price nor guaranteed feature entry supplies the probabilities needed to calculate RTP or an expected return. A separate maximum-win figure also needs its own wager base and scope; the maximum-win guide explains that reading task.

Use the rules for the mode you are entering

Match the stated price, the complete charge and the permitted awards to the same mode. A game’s title or a jackpot label alone cannot settle those details.

If the price or eligibility remains unclear, keep it unresolved rather than importing another game’s multiplier or jackpot conditions. The versioned example above shows why a reference bet, a paid entry and access to a jackpot need separate answers.