The Complete Guide to iGaming Affiliate Commission Models

Choose an iGaming affiliate commission model according to what you can afford to pay for a player and how the partner needs to earn. CPA gives the affiliate a fixed payment for a qualified acquisition. Revenue share follows the revenue those players generate. Hybrid combines both payments. A flat fee buys an agreed placement, while tiered RevShare increases the percentage when the affiliate meets defined performance thresholds.

The rate is only part of the offer. Qualification rules, revenue deductions and payment timing determine what the affiliate actually receives and what the operator keeps.

Model	Basis of payment	When to consider it	Main exposure for the operator
CPA	Fixed amount per qualified acquisition	You have enough player data to set an affordable acquisition price	The payment is earned even if the player contributes little afterward
Revenue share	Percentage of an agreed revenue base	The partner is willing to earn as its referred players generate revenue	Commission continues over the agreed attribution period; the revenue base may exclude some operator costs
Hybrid	CPA plus revenue share	The partner needs acquisition income and wants ongoing earnings	Both components apply to the same players
Flat fee	Fixed price for specified advertising inventory or content	You want a particular placement for a defined period	Results may fall short even when the publisher delivers the placement
Tiered RevShare	Revenue-share percentage determined by agreed thresholds	You want to reward additional qualified volume or revenue	A higher tier can increase commission on revenue already being generated

For the wider acquisition process, see our guide to how casino and sportsbook operators acquire players through affiliates.

CPA: a fixed price for a qualified player

CPA, or cost per acquisition, pays the affiliate an agreed amount when a referred player meets the contract’s conditions. In a casino affiliate program, that may mean a new player making a qualifying first deposit, with any required verification completed.

A first-time depositor, or FTD, is not automatically a payable acquisition. Your agreement needs to define the minimum deposit, eligible markets, qualification window and treatment of duplicate or invalid accounts. If additional activity is required, the affiliate should know that before sending traffic.

For example, a CPA agreement could require a new player to make a first deposit of at least €30 within 30 days of registration and complete the required verification. A player whose first deposit falls below that threshold would count as an FTD but would not qualify for that CPA payment.

Consider an illustrative €120 CPA. If 80 referred players make a first deposit but only 65 meet every agreed condition, the commission is 65 × €120 = €7,800. The partner’s report should distinguish the other 15 players and explain why they have not qualified.

CPA can suit a publisher that pays to acquire traffic and needs a predictable amount per conversion. The operator takes the risk that an eligible player stops contributing soon after qualification. Price the deal against expected contribution after direct costs, including players who deposit once and never return.

Payment timing matters too. A player may take months to recover the acquisition cost while the affiliate’s commission becomes payable much earlier. Our guide to when to launch an iGaming affiliate program covers that budget and cash-flow calculation.

For an untested source, agree on a limited initial volume and a review date. The review should inform future terms; it should not introduce new conditions for commissions the affiliate has already earned.

Revenue share: define the revenue before negotiating the percentage

Revenue share pays an affiliate a percentage of the agreed revenue generated by its referred players. Casino agreements often use net gaming revenue, or NGR, as the calculation base. The contract’s definition of NGR determines which costs are deducted before the percentage applies.

Deposits are not gaming revenue. A deposit funds a player’s balance. Gross gaming revenue broadly reflects stakes less player winnings; commissionable NGR then reflects the deductions specified in the affiliate agreement.

Your NGR definition might deduct bonuses, gaming taxes, payment processing fees and chargebacks from gross gaming revenue. List each deduction in the agreement and explain how it is calculated. A partner comparing two offers needs the calculation base as well as the percentage.

Take an illustrative month with €20,000 in attributed gross gaming revenue and €5,000 in agreed deductions. Commissionable NGR is €15,000. At 30% RevShare, the affiliate earns €4,500.

The remaining €10,500 is not necessarily operator profit. Any costs outside that NGR definition still need to be covered. A revenue-share deal can leave too little contribution even when the commission calculation is correct.

RevShare suits an affiliate willing to wait for revenue from the players it refers. For the operator, commission follows the agreed revenue base, but the obligation may continue long after the original referral. State how long attribution lasts and what happens to existing player commissions if the affiliate stops sending traffic or the agreement ends. Explain any activity requirements attached to a promise of lifetime earnings.

What happens after a negative month?

Negative carryover means a negative balance reduces future commission calculations. With no negative carryover, an ordinary negative period resets under the agreed rules. Neither phrase explains whether a large player win is treated separately or whether losses are offset across brands.

Under an illustrative agreement that carries forward negative NGR, a €4,000 negative balance followed by €10,000 in positive NGR leaves €6,000 as the base for the next calculation. At 30%, commission is €1,800. Without that carryover, the same positive month would produce €3,000.

For example, a program could reset ordinary negative balances each month but carry forward losses linked to fraud. A separate large-win rule could carry one player’s negative balance forward against that player’s future revenue. Both exceptions need to appear alongside the general policy.

Your own agreement should identify whether a negative balance sits against one player, one brand or a wider pool. Those arrangements produce different earnings from the same underlying activity.

Hybrid: calculate both payments together

A hybrid commission pays a fixed acquisition amount plus a share of the referred players’ revenue. It can work when a partner needs some income from acquisition but also wants to participate in later revenue.

The operator needs to price the combined obligation. In an illustrative deal paying €60 per qualified player plus 20% RevShare, 100 qualified players and €25,000 in commissionable NGR over the review period produce:

€6,000 in CPA + €5,000 in RevShare = €11,000 in commission.

If that same cohort produces another €10,000 in commissionable NGR later, the affiliate earns a further €2,000 under the continuing revenue-share agreement. The original €11,000 does not represent the full acquisition cost over the players’ attributed lifetime.

Compare CPA, RevShare and hybrid proposals using the same player cohort and time horizon. Then check how much of the forecast depends on revenue you have observed and how much depends on future retention.

A CPA payment described as an advance against future revenue share needs different accounting: later earnings may first recover that advance. Write that arrangement explicitly. An additive hybrid deal, where both amounts are earned, gives the affiliate a different return.

Also state whether negative RevShare can reduce the CPA component. The answer should come from the agreement and appear correctly in the settlement.

Flat fee: pay for a specified placement

A flat-fee deal pays a fixed amount for agreed advertising exposure or content, such as a banner position, newsletter placement or sponsored video. The publisher earns the fee by delivering the agreed work; player acquisition may be a separate performance measure.

Here, flat fee means payment for a placement. A fixed payment for each qualified player is CPA, even if someone describes it informally as a flat payment.

Specify the page or channel, placement position, dates, market, creative requirements and evidence of delivery. Record any exclusivity and what happens if the placement is unavailable. A fee can stand alone or sit alongside CPA or RevShare, in which case both costs belong in the campaign budget.

Suppose an illustrative €3,000 placement produces 20 qualified players. Its placement cost is €150 per qualified player. If the same campaign also pays €80 CPA, total commission and placement spend is €4,600, or €230 per qualified player, before other program costs.

With five qualified players, the placement fee alone would cost €600 per acquisition. The fixed commitment makes the result sensitive to conversion.

Keep tracking active even when payment does not depend on conversions. Compare placements by their observed contribution and check attribution overlap with your other campaigns. Our comparison of affiliate marketing and paid ads for online casinos explains the broader differences in cost, control and acquisition risk.

Tiered RevShare: specify where the higher rate applies

Tiered RevShare changes the affiliate’s revenue-share percentage when an agreed measure crosses a threshold. That measure could be monthly qualified acquisitions or commissionable revenue. It needs a definition, a measurement period and a rule for when the new rate takes effect.

Two tier schedules with identical thresholds can produce different payments. Consider an illustrative schedule with a €10,000 monthly NGR threshold between a 25% rate and a 30% rate. At €12,000 NGR:

• A marginal calculation pays 25% on €10,000 and 30% on the remaining €2,000: €3,100.

• A whole-period calculation applies the achieved 30% rate to all €12,000: €3,600.

The €500 difference comes from how the tier is applied. Show a calculation in the agreement, especially if the higher rate applies to an existing player portfolio as well as newly acquired players.

For a tier based on qualified-player counts, define whether the threshold uses all FTDs or only payable acquisitions. State whether the rate resets each month, remains in place for a longer period or applies from the following period. Explain what happens if a later validation removes a player who helped the affiliate reach the threshold.

Before approving the schedule, calculate the cost immediately below and above each boundary. A whole-period increase can raise commission across a large revenue base after a relatively small change in new-player volume.

What rewards will your casino affiliates expect?

A prospective affiliate needs to estimate how much it can earn from the traffic it sends and when that income will become available. Ask how the publisher funds that traffic and which part of the proposed deal it wants to improve.

A partner paying for permitted traffic may need a CPA or hybrid arrangement to recover campaign spending. Discuss qualification rates and payment dates alongside the headline CPA. A high advertised payment has limited value if few referrals qualify or payment arrives too late for the partner’s budget.

An established comparison publisher may prefer ongoing revenue share if it expects its referred players to keep generating revenue. Its questions may focus on deductions, attribution duration, negative balances and the treatment of existing players after a contract change.

A creator asked to produce a sponsored video may want a production fee. You can negotiate a fixed deliverable with a separate acquisition reward, provided the content and promotional method are permitted for the intended market.

Additional rewards can address a specific commercial objective. For example, an illustrative €500 bonus after 50 validated acquisitions adds €10 per acquisition if all 50 qualify. Define whether that bonus sits on top of CPA, whether there is a cap and which period counts. If it recurs, say so.

These are negotiating options, not assumptions about every publisher. The broader offer also needs usable reporting and a payment process the partner understands. Our guide to building an iGaming affiliate program that affiliates want to join covers those requirements.

What can you track and reward?

An affiliate program can track referrals, player events and revenue metrics supplied by the operator’s systems. Turning a recorded event into a reward requires a separate commercial rule: who qualifies, which affiliate receives credit, how much is owed and whether that amount can later change.

Commercial use case	Data needed	Possible reward
Acquire new depositing players	Affiliate attribution, new-player eligibility, first deposit and agreed qualification checks	CPA or the acquisition component of hybrid
Pay for continuing player contribution	Commissionable NGR, agreed deductions, attribution duration and corrections	RevShare or the revenue component of hybrid
Reward additional acquisition volume	Validated qualifying-player count within a defined period	Higher RevShare tier or fixed milestone bonus
Test a retention milestone	Original referral, a defined later event such as a second deposit, eligibility and event date	One-time bonus, if permitted and agreed
Buy a specific placement	Proof of delivery, placement dates and attributed clicks, registrations and qualified acquisitions	Flat fee, with a separate performance payment if agreed

A retention reward needs particular care in its definition. State whether it applies only to the affiliate’s original new-player cohort and whether it is paid once. Any arrangement involving existing players needs its own attribution and approval rules. Tracking an event does not establish that rewarding or promoting it is permitted in the target market.

For reconciliation, retain the link between the affiliate, placement identifier, player record, qualifying event and resulting commission. Keep qualification separate from payment status so a partner can distinguish a recorded FTD from a payable acquisition and an approved commission from a completed payment.

Compare referred player groups at the same age. A partner’s first week of deposits cannot establish the three-month contribution assumed in its CPA rate. Review revenue corrections and negative periods as well as successful acquisitions before increasing the commitment.

For implementation, Trackdesk’s iGaming affiliate software uses player tracking and configurable metrics. Its custom player metrics documentation describes numeric fields such as deposit totals and NGR; new metric definitions are created by the Trackdesk team. The operator’s integration supplies the values.

Trackdesk’s Player RevShare documentation explains how an offer can pay a percentage of a decimal player metric alongside conversion commissions. Its conversion qualification rules support minimum conversion values and limits on qualifying conversions per customer on iGaming plans.

Use your proposed agreement in the software demonstration: one qualified acquisition, one failed qualification, a later revenue correction and the resulting settlement. For tiered rates or bespoke bonuses, include the threshold and effective-date rules. Your team and the affiliate should be able to reproduce the payment from the same records.