A gamble feature asks you to risk something you already have — a win, a bonus round or the last of your balance — for a chance at more. Slots implement it in very different ways: a classic card gamble doubles a win or loses it, Inspired’s Hot Spins turn a win into spins on four reel sets, Hacksaw’s Bonus Gamble spins a revolver before a free-spins round, and some games offer one last spin when your balance runs low. The key question for each is the same: does gambling change the average, or only the spread?
Last updated: 22 October 2026
Gamble features in the games we review
| Feature | Game | What you risk | What you can get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double-up | Burning Wild | Any win | Twice the win, up to five times in a row |
| Hot Spins | Super Fruits Wild, Mighty Hot Wilds, Super Hot Fruits | A win of 4× the stake or more | Spins on four reel sets at once, with Wilds copied across sets |
| Bonus Gamble | Bullets and Bounty (True Grit) | The 10 free spins you just triggered | A cash prize of 5×, 10× or 20×, or an upgrade to Four Shots to Freedom |
| Spin Chance | Mighty Hot Wilds | A balance smaller than the bet | One more spin |
| xTra Spin | Gator Hunters, Gator Hunters 2 | Part of the previous win (the price) | A repeat spin that keeps the multiplier and loaded Revolvers |
The classic double-up
The oldest gamble feature is a guess on a face-down card. In Burning Wild, after any win you can pick a colour: right doubles the win, wrong loses it, and you can go up to five times in a row or until the win reaches 500× the bet. If the colour is a true 50/50, each step is fair on average — but the chance of five correct guesses in a row is 1 in 32. The 2011 Werewolf Wild adds a second option: guess the suit for four times the win, at 1-in-4 odds.
Hot Spins
Inspired’s Hot Spins appear after a win of at least 4× the stake. The win becomes a meter that pays for spins on four reel sets at once: each Hot Spin costs at least 4× the original stake, which is why a 4× win is the minimum to enter. A Wild that lands on one set is copied onto the others, and you can collect what is left on the meter at any time.
- In Mighty Hot Wilds the feature is listed at 100% RTP, with up to 100 Hot Spins: on average, taking the win into Hot Spins neither adds nor removes value — it only widens the range of outcomes.
- In Super Fruits Wild the same choice exists, and where allowed a Fortune Spins button lets you buy Hot Spins directly without a qualifying win.
- In Super Hot Fruits, the 2015 original, Hot Spins are capped at 50 and also listed at 100%. Inspired describes them as starting automatically; some databases say you can decline. Its base game is listed at 90% by Inspired and 94% by databases, and that figure, not the gamble, decides what the game costs you.
Bullets and Bounty’s Bonus Gamble
When three Scatters trigger True Grit in Bullets and Bounty, you can accept the 10 free spins or spin a revolver with six outcomes: cash prizes of 5×, 10× or 20× the bet, or an upgrade to the 4-Scatter round, Four Shots to Freedom. It turns a known bonus into a lottery between a smaller fixed prize and a better round.
Last-chance spins and paid repeats
- Spin Chance (Mighty Hot Wilds): when the balance falls below the bet, you can risk whatever is left for one more spin. If it does not win, the remainder is gone.
- xTra Spin (Gator Hunters): after a spin, the game may offer a repeat that keeps the total multiplier and loaded Revolvers. Its price is capped by the previous win, so accepting can hand back everything that spin paid.
These two sit between gambling and respins; the respin side is covered in our respins guide.
Average versus spread
A gamble at 100% RTP — like Mighty Hot Wilds’ Hot Spins — is fair: over many uses it returns exactly what you put in, so the only thing that changes is how wide your results are. Where a studio does not publish the RTP of a gamble feature, you cannot tell whether it costs you something on average. Two practical rules follow:
- Gamble only with amounts you would be comfortable losing in full.
- Decide your rule before the session — for example, “always collect wins above 20× the bet” — instead of deciding after each win.
A gamble feature cannot fix a losing session. Using it to win back losses is chasing, which licensed operators are required to discourage.