BTG feature buys no longer in the UK

[shadow123]

I always said we would regret the UKGC involvement in online gaming,they will kill off a lot of casinos by
meddling in things they know nothing about.I can make a firm prediction that in 12 months time we will
have nothing but slow spin £2 max stake games.
Sounds like there will be a blanket ban on feature buys which will kill off most of the megaway games,
Wondering if the removal of Money train is connected to this,one of my favourite games, the base game is almost unplayable and
relies on the feature buy to maintain interest.

 

[Scott1baird]

To be honest soon as I seen you could spend £100 on a chilli buy and still loose the feature I knew they would be banned. Greed for profit.

 

[mack341]

What about the barcrest/sg games with that 'big bet' feature is that not similar, one step away from a bonus buy?

I'm sure I've seen a few games [even at skyvegas] with that present but it could've been my memory playing tricks.

 

[ChopleyIOM]

Excellent news. Hopefully any slot that contains any sort of chase mechanic will be outlawed next. (Kingmaker, Lil' Devil, Wild Swarm etc.)

The industry did this to itself, pure unadulterated greed and avarice, I am glad the UKGC are starting to take meaningful chunks out of them.

Responsible game developers and operators will still be able to be successful, and the greedy charlatans will get run out of town.

Chase mechanics are a kind of feature buys by another name, Immortal Romance proved with the Wild Desire there's no need to have a 'halo' feature hidden behind hundreds of spins and hundreds of times your stake, just have it available to be triggered at random on any spin.

 

[Mr_Slot5]

Well feature buys have been disabled at most UK bookie sites for ages on the blueprints- Sky and Paddy Power etc. They have never offered the bonus buy games from BTG as far as I'm aware.

Mixed feelings about this. I once sat through almost 1000 spins of tedium on buffalo rising waiting for a feature and REALLY could have done with the bonus buy feature!

 

[mack341]

Excellent news. Hopefully any slot that contains any sort of chase mechanic will be outlawed next. (Kingmaker, Lil' Devil, Wild Swarm etc.)

The industry did this to itself, pure unadulterated greed and avarice, I am glad the UKGC are starting to take meaningful chunks out of them.

Responsible game developers and operators will still be able to be successful, and the greedy charlatans will get run out of town.

Chase mechanics are a kind of feature buys by another name, Immortal Romance proved with the Wild Desire there's no need to have a 'halo' feature hidden behind hundreds of spins and hundreds of times your stake, just have it available to be triggered at random on any spin.

Having played both wild swarm and lil devil, I'd say wild was a much better game, the standard free spins occurs quite frequently and the base game is kinder than lil devil. Being able to up your stake while you wait for the swarm mode to occur seems to be where the danger lies, I haven't actually got that far, you have to catch so many bees to fill the hive, it takes much longer than the 40 hearts.

Edit: I must admit I thought I'd hate wild swarm, having heard about the mechanic, and was expecting a merciless base game, but it seems more low variance than many other games.
I think btg have taken the 'time on slot/device' aspect, keeping a player rooted and 'invested' in getting a feature, too far, it's exploiting the psychology of gamblers in a cynical way. Another problem also is that other makers have now copied the BTG low bonus frequency model, which invariably increases chasing, vikings is horrific, and narcos almost impossible to get the free spins I've found.

 

[shadow123]

Chase mechanics have been around for donkeys years eg Scrooge,if you remove all those games based on it
along with all feature buys,you aint going to have that much left.
No way do I celebrate the UKGC sticking their nose into anything game related, the outcome will not be good.
There may be a case for the removal of some games, the feature buys can be shocking but players should
have the intellegence not play them. The UKGC wont check all the feature buys games, just do a blanket ban.

 

[interlog]

Well done UKGC...... not

How about you concentrate on the more important things such as making reversing withdrawals a thing of the past or at least make a lock withdrawal function compulsive for UK facing casinos.

 

[L&L-Jan]

In the letter it stated:

"To remove content that contains any type of "Buy Bonus feature" -

For clarity, we highlight the example of the following games;

• Book of Gods

• White Rabbit

• Extra Chilli

Which offer the option of staking significant amounts of money to access a bonus feature without playing the initial stages of the game. These additional stakes can be many times the maximum ‘base’ stake of the game. It is this option of purchasing the bonus feature for significantly more times the base stake which causes concern.

--

And SG lists the following games:

Studio	Game
BTG	White Rabbit
BTG	Book of Gods
BTG	Extra Chilli
SG	300 Shields Extreme
SG	Medusa Megaways
SG	Rainbow Riches Megaways Buy Pass

Kr. Jan

 

[Jono777]

In the letter it stated:

"To remove content that contains any type of "Buy Bonus feature" -

For clarity, we highlight the example of the following games;

• Book of Gods

• White Rabbit

• Extra Chilli

IMO, casinos would still be compliant if they allowed the games but as I mentioned before the provider disabled the feature buy button/part of the game.

I'm no IT genius but also reckon doing such would not be too difficult or an arduous task.

The content they refer to would be in the examples listed but NOT offering the feature buy once updated not in breach of their latest requirement to remain compliant.

All this has also made me think is "Whatever Next?" - So obvious there is much more to come from these "professionals"

 

[pocoman]

Well done UKGC...... not

How about you concentrate on the more important things such as making reversing withdrawals a thing of the past or at least make a lock withdrawal function compulsive for UK facing casinos.

Agree on the reverse withdrawal thing. It's utterly cynical and just another way of getting you to spunk more money by way of reverse withdrawals.

 

[nikantw]

If a 5 euro feature buy isn't allowed, then definitely a 5 euro bet shouldn't be allowed!

I can't understand why it is so hard to see the other side of this. The really good one.

Set a max bet. Problem solved.

 

[shadow123]

Sure its not as simple as just disabling the buy feature,it is an integral part of the game with chilli and gods
and probably a few others as the base play contributes to the buy cost by awarding increments to reduce it.
This would have to be compensated for in the base play if they removed the buy.
Interestingly this base game contribution could also be said to be a chase style feature.
Fun times ahead .. not

 

[Jono777]

Sure its not as simple as just disabling the buy feature,it is an integral part of the game with chilli and gods
and probably a few others as the base play contributes to the buy cost by awarding increments to reduce it.
This would have to be compensated for in the base play if they removed the buy.
Interestingly this base game contribution could also be said to be a chase style feature.
Fun times ahead .. not

Not really.

Leave the coins as they are, just disable the feature buy button.

When coins reduce cost to zero, its not a buy still, more like a 'naturally' triggered normal feature.

The player choice / control / lack of responsibility has thus been removed doing it this way which is what the UKGC are looking at in this particular instance.

Although I don't think it does (well much anyway) affect the RTP, a simple line of text in the help files will cover this.

FWIW - I do not buy feature very often at all and on days I do, it is when coins have reduced to 10-15x, if that lol.

Reason I'm involved on this thread so much is UKGC are pissing me right off with their nanny state, do this, don't do that set of piss poorly rules, dictating regs which they do not even understand themselves.

 

[9HOURSAWAY]

What next? The gamble ladders on Reel King / Captain Venture?

 

[colinsunderland]

Not really.

Leave the coins as they are, just disable the feature buy button.

When coins reduce cost to zero, its not a buy still, more like a 'naturally' triggered normal feature.

The player choice / control / lack of responsibility has thus been removed doing it this way which is what the UKGC are looking at in this particular instance.

Although I don't think it does (well much anyway) affect the RTP, a simple line of text in the help files will cover this.

FWIW - I do not buy feature very often at all and on days I do, it is when coins have reduced to 10-15x, if that lol.

Reason I'm involved on this thread so much is UKGC are pissing me right off with their nanny state, do this, don't do that set of piss poorly rules, dictating regs which they do not even understand themselves.

If it affects the RTP in any way then surely the game needs re-testing rather than just adding a line of text?

 

[shadow123]

Not really.

Leave the coins as they are, just disable the feature buy button.

When coins reduce cost to zero, its not a buy still, more like a 'naturally' triggered normal feature.

The player choice / control / lack of responsibility has thus been removed doing it this way which is what the UKGC are looking at in this particular instance.

Although I don't think it does (well much anyway) affect the RTP, a simple line of text in the help files will cover this.

FWIW - I do not buy feature very often at all and on days I do, it is when coins have reduced to 10-15x, if that lol.

Reason I'm involved on this thread so much is UKGC are pissing me right off with their nanny state, do this, don't do that set of piss poorly rules, dictating regs which they do not even understand themselves.

Wouldnt that make it an incentive to chase exactly like the heart ladders in Devil ? I know its there anyway just saying

And dont get me started on UKGC and nanny state.The government should sort out fucking brexit rather than bloody feature buys,
its pathetic

 

[dealer wins]

UKGC, ruining online gambling a little bit more every month.

 

[slot_zombie]

Not really.

Leave the coins as they are, just disable the feature buy button.

When coins reduce cost to zero, its not a buy still, more like a 'naturally' triggered normal feature.

But but but

...we have people in this thread even moaning about token collection FFS...

There's an awful lot of "I don't like it therefore it should be banned for everyone" attitude around, it seems. Although this doesn't piss me.off as much as banning demo play did, it's still disturbing.

 

[Jono777]

If it affects the RTP in any way then surely the game needs re-testing rather than just adding a line of text?

Yes of course, was posting hastily in frustration, hoping some will see my point.

My case is simple and straight forward if the RTP is not affected, that said, a minute change would warrant a smaller test sample, surely and therefore not extensive work etc?

Rather spend a few hours tweaking than lose some of their top money makers, surely?

 

[colinsunderland]

As far as I'm aware, any change should result in it being tested again, perhaps @Big Time Gaming can confirm, although they probably won't be back here until it's time to promote the next release

 

[Jono777]

But but but

...we have people in this thread even moaning about token collection FFS...

There's an awful lot of "I don't like it therefore it should be banned for everyone" attitude around, it seems. Although this doesn't piss me.off as much as banning demo play did, it's still disturbing.

Think they're only moaning due to all the BTG and megaways hype, along with their smoke, mirrors and invisible potential other wise we'd hear nothing said on the matter.

As some one else mentioned, these sort of mechanics have been around for years and nothing was said then (top of my head: Scrooge, Tomb Raider II, Tribal something or another) sure if I sat and made an effort I could list 50+ lol

 

[bamberfishcake]

Anybody know when this is in effect from?

Feature buys and chase mechanics are all part of the game. We are not stupid and we know they are designed to rip us off. We do not need UKGC restricting this for us.

I do not get sucked in because i know the game is trying to suck me in. If i do get sucked in more fool me for getting sucked in as i know its designed to....wait for it......suck me in!

So stop feature buys, then now lets look at chase mechanics, then lets restrict big bets, then any form of advertising, any bright lights or free merchandise, take it all away and strip it back until its a blank screen with no branding and no pretty symbols on the reels, oooh no, we cant have that, people might be spinning for other reasons than to, ummm, make money???!!!!!

This is gambling! The nature of the beast is to battle you for money. The game is designed to take as much money from you as possible and we try and take as much from it as possible.........

please.........

 

[goatwack]

Not ones to miss an opportunity, all this has done is motivate BTG to tout their next groundbreaking mechanic-

NoBonusBuyWays (™)

You heard it here first

 

[Spikie]

I can’t see how collecting tokens for bonus or enhanced features will be or should be banned .

They can just turn off the graphics for it , and simply run the calculation in the background .

Then it is simply a random feature . Part of a normal game.

It is the buy a gamble for possibly nothing which needs to stop , eg . Extra Chilli which is highly addictive and potentially very damaging to the player . It had to happen with all the streamers constantly buying massive bonuses.


The SG big bets should be safe as you are not buying a guaranteed bonus , just enhanced reels.