Bonus hunting: costs
Bonus hunting is a slot format in which you collect a run of bonus rounds from a fixed starting balance, leave each one unopened, and then open them all together to see whether the total won covers what the collection cost. The term turns up mostly on streams, where the opening is the show. It is also used, more loosely, for chasing sign-up offers from one casino to the next. This entry covers both, and the single number that decides whether a hunt is winning.
How a bonus hunt actually runs
A hunt has two phases. In the collection phase you play across several slots with a set balance, either buying bonus features outright or spinning until one triggers, and you note each bonus down without playing it.
The opening phase starts once the balance runs out or a target count is reached, and every saved bonus is played in turn while the wins are added up.
Most hunts shown on streams collect somewhere between 20 and 100 bonuses, and the count is usually fixed at the start, either as a target or as whatever the starting balance happens to buy. Nothing about the format changes the RTP of the slots involved. Saving a bonus for later does not make it pay more, and buying a feature means you pay the bonus-buy price on each one, which on many slots is a multiple of the base stake.
The house edge comes along for the whole hunt.
The break-even multiplier and its formula
The figure every hunt revolves around is the break-even multiplier, often shortened to BE. It is the average win, in multiples of the bet, that each unopened bonus must pay for the hunt to return exactly what it cost.
At the start of the opening it is simply the starting balance divided by the total stake sitting in the collected bonuses. Spend €2,000 collecting 20 bonuses at €2 each and the unopened stake is €40, so each bonus has to average 50x just to give you your €2,000 back.
The live version
Once bonuses start opening, the figure is recalculated after each one: required multiplier = (starting balance – won so far) ÷ (stake of bonuses still unopened). Where bonuses were collected at different bet sizes, you total the unopened stake rather than counting bonuses, because 100x on a €0.20 bonus and 100x on a €5 bonus are very different sums of money.
One caution about a convention you will hear on streams. A 100x result is treated as a good single bonus, but it is not a break-even point, and a hunt with a 150x BE is still losing money at an average of 100x.
The table below runs the same €2,000 hunt through two different openings.
Worked examples of a hunt’s changing cost
You can compare the following illustrative outcomes for the same €2,000 hunt, with every bonus collected at a €2 stake.
Opening A and opening B are separate scenarios, rather than successive stages of one opening. Each remaining multiplier uses the money still needed to recover the starting balance, divided by the unopened stake; the final row reports the loss because no unopened stake remains.
| Point in hunt | Won so far | Unopened stake | Required average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collection ends, 20 bonuses | €0 | €40 | 50x |
| Opening A: first bonus pays 800x | €1,600 | €38 | About 10.5x |
| Opening B: first five pay 3x | €30 | €30 | About 65.7x |
| Opening B: first ten pay 3x | €60 | €20 | 97x |
| Opening B: all twenty pay 3x | €120 | €0 | Loss of €1,880 |
What bonus hunting is confused with
Outside streaming, bonus hunting is also used for moving between casinos to claim welcome offers, sometimes called bonus chasing. That is a different activity, and the decisive numbers there are the wagering terms rather than a multiplier on opened features. 40x wagering on a €100 bonus means €4,000 of bets before anything can be withdrawn, and caps on bonus winnings or a maximum bet rule can cut that further.
Operators often class systematic offer-chasing as bonus abuse in their terms, and the wording and penalties vary from one operator to the next, so read the clause itself before you assume a winnings confiscation could not happen to you.
Neither version is a strategy.
In Ireland, section 157 of the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 forbids a licensee from offering an inducement to a specific person or group of persons, and allows the Minister to set conditions on offers made to the general public. Where those provisions are in force, the personalised reload deals that offer-chasers rely on are the kind of inducement the Act targets. If a hunt on screen or your own sessions have stopped feeling like entertainment, set a deposit limit with your operator first, and talk to the free HSE gambling helpline on 1800 753 753.
