An affiliate deal is two decisions that get discussed as one. The first is the model. The second, and the source of almost every dispute, is what the model is applied to: which revenue figure, net of which deductions, counting which products. An affiliate and an operator can agree on "25% revshare" and still disagree about the invoice by a third.
GGR — stakes minus wins — deducts none of the operator's costs and is the most generous base. NGR nets off bonuses, gaming tax and usually payment processing, and can be materially smaller on the same traffic. Whether deposit and withdrawal fees are inside or outside the formula is real money on high-volume payment corridors, and a casino-only plan should not be paid on sportsbook turnover the affiliate never sent. Ludora scopes a plan to casino, sportsbook or combined and takes the base from the matching figure.
By default a negative revenue base floors at zero: the affiliate earns nothing and owes nothing, because an affiliate cannot control variance. Negative carryover — the deficit netted against the next period — is enabled deliberately per plan and recorded on every commission report, rather than applied quietly.
CPA qualification gates move the payable event from "deposited" to "deposited and behaved like a player": a minimum deposit amount, a minimum number of deposits, a minimum wagered, or a requirement that the operator has not lost money on the account. Each is independently configurable and enforced at calculation time on every period.
Sub-affiliate networks should pay a share of the parent's commission rather than a rate on raw revenue. Cascading a percentage down each edge of the chain makes it structurally impossible for a sub to be paid more than its parent earned on the same players — the arithmetic rules out the failure instead of making it unlikely.
There is no single answer, because the models distribute risk differently. Revenue share pushes player-quality risk onto the affiliate and suits operators who want to pay only for players who stay. CPA gives both sides predictable numbers and puts the quality risk on the operator, which is why it needs qualification gates. Hybrid is the usual compromise for affiliates who spend their own money on media. Most operators run several models across different partners rather than standardising on one.
GGR is gross gaming revenue — stakes minus player wins — with none of the operator's costs deducted. NGR is net of bonuses, gaming tax and usually payment processing fees. The same percentage on GGR pays the affiliate more than on NGR, sometimes substantially, so the base matters at least as much as the rate and belongs in the contract explicitly.
Not by default. A negative revenue base floors at zero, so the affiliate earns nothing that period and owes nothing. Negative carryover — where the deficit is netted against the next period before commission is taken — is a term an operator has to enable deliberately on the plan, and it is recorded on the commission report so both sides can see what carried in and what rolled out.
Gates are conditions a first-time depositor must meet before they generate a CPA payment: a minimum deposit amount, a minimum number of deposits, a minimum wagered amount, or a requirement that the account has produced positive net revenue. Each is configured independently on the plan or inherited from an operator-wide default, and they are applied at commission-calculation time rather than reviewed afterwards.
As a share of what the parent earned, not as a rate on raw revenue. Applying a sub's rate directly to revenue decouples it from the parent's own commission and can make a parent owe more than they were paid. Cascading a percentage of the parent's commission down each edge of the chain means a sub is structurally unable to be paid more than its parent earned on the same players.