CPA vs RevShare: Which Deal Pays More?

CPA vs RevShare vs Hybrid at a glance

Traffic guidance based on iRev and N1 Partners.

What is CPA in casino affiliate marketing?

CPA (cost per acquisition) is a single cash payment for each player you refer who meets criteria agreed in advance. That's close to word for word how Gambling.com Group defines it in its annual filing, and when a company puts a definition in front of the SEC, I tend to borrow it rather than improvise.

In plain English, the casino buys the player from you, like a very expensive second-hand sofa. You get paid once, and you never hear about the sofa again.

The "agreed criteria" part is where the fun lives. It usually means a minimum first deposit, and often identity checks and a review window before the fee is confirmed. Read those rules the way you'd read a dinner bill after someone else ordered the wine.

How much? iRev puts typical CPAs at $50 to $400 per player, depending on the country, expected player value and regulation. That's a wide range, yes. It's the affiliate equivalent of asking how long a piece of string is, then being told "between one and eight strings".

The upside is speed and certainty: you know what each player is worth the moment they qualify. The downside is that the player's future is none of your business. If they turn out to be a high roller, congratulations, you sold a whale at goldfish prices. [Stares quietly out of window.]

What is RevShare, and why is it smaller than you expected?

RevShare pays you a percentage of the net gaming revenue (NGR) your referred players produce, every month the deal runs. The important word there is "net", which is doing more heavy lifting than any word I have ever written (low bar, admittedly).

NGR starts from gross gaming revenue (GGR), which is roughly what players lost, and then subtracts things like bonuses, chargebacks and payment fees. According to iRev, NGR is typically 15-25% lower than GGR. Your percentage is paid on the smaller number, not the exciting one.

Then come admin fees, which is where affiliates start saying words their mothers taught them not to. "The worst case is 8% and there were other ones close to that, so they are basically taking everything with made-up costs from the revenue," Joonas Karhu of Bojoko told iGB Affiliate.

In the same piece, Duncan Garvie of ThePOGG put it more politely: "there is never any clear definition of what these fees encapsulate." Reading an NGR definition is a bit like reading the label on a sausage. You wanted to know, now you know, and you can never un-know.

Tax is the newest ingredient. The UK government confirmed that Remote Gaming Duty rises from 21% to 40% from 1 April 2026. If your program deducts gaming duty before it calculates NGR, your UK RevShare shrank this year without anyone touching your percentage. Magic, but the bad kind.

None of this makes RevShare bad. It means the percentage is the headline and the NGR definition is the actual story, so ask for the story in writing. Operators aren't hiding it for fun, mostly. Some of them just write terms the way I assemble furniture: technically complete, with three screws left over.

What is a Hybrid deal?

A Hybrid deal pays a smaller CPA plus a smaller RevShare on the same players. You get some cash up front and a slice of the long tail. This is the coin landing on its edge, which almost never happens with actual coins and happens all the time in affiliate deals.

Illustrative figures from iRev's comparison, not an offer from any program.

Tadas Peckaitis, writing for iGB Affiliate, suggests newer affiliates "can start with pure CPAs, with the aim of transitioning to hybrid deals once you've established a good rapport". His verdict: "Hybrid deals seem the fairest for all parties and help keep you in the business."

I agree, and not only because "fairest for all parties" is the most wholesome sentence ever written about gambling. Hybrid covers your costs today and still pays you if a player sticks around, which is the closest thing this industry has to having your cake and eating it (and then being charged an admin fee for the plate).

Which is better, CPA or RevShare, for your traffic?

It depends mostly on how you buy or earn your traffic, and how soon you need the money back. Paid traffic leans CPA or Hybrid. Organic traffic leans RevShare. I know, "it depends" is the most annoying answer in the world, so here's the chart that makes it slightly less annoying.

The logic is simple. "PPC, or paid traffic, requires faster payback, so CPA or hybrid deals are usually the better option," as N1 Partners puts it, while SEO, streams and Telegram "bring in organic traffic with higher LTV, making them a strong fit for RevShare". If your ad account needs feeding every Monday, a cheque that arrives in eleven months is not a business plan. It's a hobby with invoices.

The bigger reason RevShare fans exist is that a small number of players produce most of the money. A 2024 study of British gambling accounts by Forrest and McHale found the top 1% of online gaming customers generated 41.64% of operator net revenue.

Read that again, I'll wait. [Waits. Taps foot. Checks a watch that isn't there.]

On CPA, that top 1% earns you the same flat fee as someone who deposited once and wandered off to walk their dog. On RevShare, you share in what they generate. That's why Better Collective's CEO Jesper Søgaard said "we have always favoured revenue share agreements as we consistently invest for the long-term" (CasinoBeats).

The honest flip side: you can't pick your whales in advance, and a quiet month on RevShare is genuinely quiet. [Checks dashboard. Checks it again. Refreshes it out of spite.] If you already know your traffic type, you can apply to our iGaming affiliate program and ask for the model that fits it.

What is negative carryover, and should you accept it?

Negative carryover means that when your players win more than they lose in a month, the negative balance is carried into the next month and set against your future earnings. Blask's definition is the clearest one I've found. In short: one lucky player can eat your next month's commission, and possibly the one after that, like a houseguest who also brought friends.

Should you accept it? If you have a small audience, carryover hurts more, because one big winner can wipe out months of small players. Big affiliates can average it out.

Small affiliates mostly just average out their fingernails while watching the balance. Either way, it's a question to ask before you sign, not after your first negative month.

Do regulations change which deal you can take?

In some US states, yes: RevShare often needs a heavier licence than a flat fee. Two examples, straight from the source documents:

So the same player can come with a different amount of paperwork depending on how you're paid. Nobody got into affiliate marketing for the paperwork. (If you did, please get in touch, we have some forms for you.)

In the UK, the Gambling Commission holds operators responsible for the third parties they work with, affiliates included, under licence condition SR code 1.1.2. That's why decent programs ask where your traffic comes from. They're not being nosy. Well, not only nosy: their licence is on the line.

How to choose: 6 questions to ask before you sign

Whatever you pick, the deal is only as good as the wording. iRev says it best: "A verbal RevShare rate promise is worth nothing if it's not in your agreement" (source). Ask these, and get the answers in writing, preferably not on a napkin:

1. How exactly is NGR calculated? Which deductions come off GGR, and is there an admin fee? For a sense of scale, MrQ's James Booth told iGB Affiliate it applies "a flat admin fee of 50% to gaming revenue" to cover tax, royalties and payment fees.
2. Is there negative carryover? Full, capped, or none.
3. Is the RevShare lifetime, or does it expire? Betfair's standard plan, for example, is a "2 year customer expiry".
4. What makes a CPA player qualify? Minimum deposit, identity checks, review window.
5. Is there a monthly CPA cap? And what happens to players above it (spoiler: sometimes nothing, for you).
6. Can you move to Hybrid later? Good traffic tends to earn better terms over time.

Many programs publish their RevShare tiers. Plenty of big ones don't: 888 says terms "will be discussed via email with your personal affiliate manager after registration" (888 Affiliates). Here's one that does publish, as a reference point, not a dare:

Published by LeoVegas Affiliates, checked 26 September 2026. Their terms, not ours.

How we do it at Seven Affiliates

Here's our side of the table, in plain words, with nothing hidden in clause 47b.

We keep individual deals private between the affiliate and the advertiser, the same way many big programs do. It also means nobody can screenshot your deal and wave it around a forum thread. [Forum regulars: we see you, and we admire the stamina.]

If you're sending paid traffic, ask about CPA or Hybrid. If you're running SEO or a community, ask about RevShare. If you're not sure, send us your traffic sources (all of them, even the embarrassing ones) and we'll tell you honestly which one we'd pick in your shoes. That's the whole trick, and yes, I'm aware it's less exciting than a coin.

FAQ

Is CPA or RevShare better for casino affiliates?

Neither is better for everyone. CPA suits paid traffic that needs fast payback. RevShare suits SEO, content and loyal communities, because a small share of players produce most casino revenue. Hybrid is a middle ground many affiliates move to over time.

What does NGR mean in affiliate deals?

NGR is net gaming revenue: what players lost (GGR) minus deductions such as bonuses, chargebacks and payment fees. RevShare is paid as a percentage of NGR, so the list of deductions matters as much as the percentage.

What is a good RevShare percentage?

Published casino programs commonly start around 25% and rise to 40% with volume, as LeoVegas Affiliates' tiers show. Compare how NGR is calculated too, because a higher percentage of a smaller number can pay less.

Is negative carryover normal?

Some programs carry negative balances forward by default, some cap them, and some don't use carryover at all. Ask before you sign. Seven Affiliates does not use negative carryover.

Can I switch from CPA to RevShare later?

Often, yes, if the program agrees and it's written into your agreement. Switches usually apply to new players from that date, so confirm how existing players are treated.