Affiliate Glossary

A partner who sends players to a casino and is paid for the ones who deposit.

An independent marketer, such as a site owner, streamer, media buyer or community owner, who sends traffic to a casino through a tracked link and earns commission on the players who convert. The affiliate owns the audience; the operator owns the product.

See also: Affiliate network, Tracking link

The person who looks after a group of affiliates: their deals, their casinos and their questions.

Two roles share the title. An account manager is your contact at the network: they agree your rates per casino, place you on brands, supply tracking links and creative, and deal with problems. An independent affiliate manager brings and runs their own group of affiliates in partnership with a network. What does an affiliate manager do? covers both, and the affiliate manager programme is how to become the second kind here.

See also: Affiliate network, Deal

An intermediary that aggregates casino programmes, handles tracking and consolidates payouts.

Instead of contracting with each operator separately, an affiliate works with an iGaming affiliate platform that holds the commercial relationships and provides one tracking layer, one dashboard and one monthly payment across every brand. What is an iGaming affiliate network? covers the trade-offs.

See also: Affiliate, Affiliate manager

The rule deciding which affiliate is credited when a player converts.

In iGaming the usual rule is last click: the most recent affiliate link before registration wins, within a set validity window. On a lifetime revenue share, the player is usually tied to the affiliate at registration. See how affiliate tracking works.

See also: Click ID, Tracking link

Paid search ads on the casino's own brand name.

Widely restricted, because the casino would be paying for a player who already searched for its name. Breaching the restriction usually voids the commission on that traffic. Brand bidding explained covers the conditions where it is allowed.

See also: Traffic source

A deposit reversed by the player's bank or card issuer.

The deposit goes back to the player, so the conversion it created is cancelled and any commission on it is reversed.

See also: FTD, Reversal

The token issued when someone clicks your link, returned later with the conversion.

It travels with the player into the casino's systems, and a conversion that comes back without it cannot be credited to anyone. See how affiliate tracking works.

See also: Tracking link, S2S postback, Attribution

A flat fee paid once for each player who deposits and meets the qualifying bar.

Cost per acquisition. The fee does not depend on what the player does afterwards, and that predictability is why it suits paid media. See what CPA is.

See also: RevShare, Hybrid, FTD

The agreed commercial terms between an affiliate and a casino: model, rate and conditions.

It names the model, the rate, the qualification bar, the accepted countries and the permitted traffic channels. Deals are set per affiliate and per casino, so two affiliates promoting the same brand often hold different terms. CPA vs RevShare compares the models.

See also: CPA, RevShare, Qualification

Total earnings divided by total clicks, or what one click is worth to you.

It combines both conversion rates and the deal rate in one number, so it is the quickest way to compare campaigns or casinos with similar audiences, once there are enough clicks for it to be stable. The CPA calculator works it out.

See also: Funnel, CPA

A player's first real-money deposit at a casino, the event most deals pay on.

First-time deposit. It is first per casino, not per person: a player who deposits at two brands produces two FTDs, because each operator gains a new customer. A later deposit at the same casino is a redeposit. See what an FTD is.

See also: Redeposit, Registration, CPA

The stages a visitor passes through: click, registration, first deposit, redeposit.

Each stage has a conversion rate against the one before. Click to registration shows whether your audience fits the offer; registration to deposit shows whether the casino converts them. The earnings calculator prices a funnel under each deal model.

See also: Registration, FTD, EPC

The country a player is in, and whether a programme accepts it.

Each deal lists the countries it accepts, based on licensing, local advertising law and the casino's priorities. Being able to reach a market does not mean you may promote there. Coverage by country is on the programme pages.

See also: Restricted territory, Deal

What players lost, before any deduction.

Stakes minus winnings, with nothing deducted: the operator's top line, from which NGR is derived. Affiliate revenue shares are almost always paid on NGR, not GGR.

See also: NGR

A flat fee per depositor and a revenue share in one deal, each set lower than on its own.

The flat fee funds media spend up front, and the share keeps part of the long tail. See CPA vs RevShare.

See also: CPA, RevShare

Players rewarded for signing up or depositing.

It converts well and retains badly: the player deposits the minimum for the reward and leaves. Many deals restrict it, and running it undeclared commonly voids conversions. See traffic sources.

See also: Traffic source, Qualification

The smallest confirmed balance a programme will pay out in a cycle.

A balance below the threshold is not lost: it rolls over to the next cycle. Many programmes also set a volume floor, such as a minimum number of first deposits. How affiliate payouts work sets out the thresholds at TopStep Partners.

See also: Negative carryover, FTD

Whether a month of negative revenue is carried forward and deducted from your next positive month.

When players win more than they stake, a month's net revenue is negative. With carryover, the deficit is deducted from later months before you are paid again; without it, each month starts at zero. TopStep Partners does not carry losses forward: a losing month is set to zero. See how affiliate payouts work.

See also: RevShare, NGR

What players lost, minus bonuses, fees, tax and other agreed deductions.

The base a revenue share is calculated on. The deductions are not standardised: bonus costs, payment fees, gaming duty and sometimes platform fees vary by contract, so compare the definition before the rate. See what RevShare is.

See also: GGR, RevShare

The bar a player must clear before a conversion is payable.

Usually a minimum first deposit, sometimes a wagering requirement, plus country and channel conditions. Two deals at the same rate with different bars are not worth the same. See what an FTD is.

See also: FTD, CPA, Deal

Any deposit by a player after their first one.

It is not an FTD, and on a CPA deal it earns nothing extra. On a revenue share it adds to the monthly net revenue. See what an FTD is.

See also: FTD, RevShare

A player creating an account, before any money has moved.

The player has opened an account through your link but not yet deposited. It shows your audience matched the offer; on its own it rarely earns anything in iGaming.

See also: FTD, Funnel

A country a programme will not accept traffic from.

The reason may be a licence condition, a legal ban or a commercial choice. Traffic from a restricted territory can void the commission on the campaign that sent it. See territory and legal responsibility.

See also: GEO

A confirmed commission cancelled after the fact.

Caused by fraud, a chargeback, a duplicate account or a breach of the deal's traffic terms. It is recorded as a new correcting entry rather than an edit, so the record stays auditable.

See also: Chargeback, FTD

A percentage of the net revenue your players generate, paid for as long as they play.

Revenue share. It is paid every month rather than once, so earnings grow with retention. What counts as net revenue, and whether losses carry over, decide what the percentage is worth. See what RevShare is.

See also: CPA, NGR, Negative carryover

A server-to-server call from the casino announcing that a conversion happened.

No browser is involved, so ad blockers, cookie settings and a player closing the tab do not affect it. It carries the click ID, the event, the amount, a unique transaction ID and a signature. See what an S2S postback is.

See also: Click ID, Attribution

A percentage of what the affiliates you referred earn, paid by the network on top.

You introduce another affiliate and earn a share of their commission, up to 10% here. The network pays it on top; nothing is deducted from the person you referred. See sub-affiliate commission.

See also: Affiliate, CPA

Your personal link for one casino, carrying the identifier that attributes players to you.

Unique per affiliate and per casino. Rewriting or stripping its parameters is the most common self-inflicted cause of missing commission. See how affiliate tracking works.

See also: Click ID, Attribution

Where your players come from, and whether the casino permits that channel.

Search, paid social, push, email, Telegram, streaming, influencers and more. Every deal names the channels it accepts; treat an unlisted channel as prohibited. See traffic sources.

See also: Brand bidding, Incentivised traffic