Affiliates and acquisition

Affiliate: a partner who brings in players

Affiliate (affiliate partner) is a partner who refers players to a casino for a commission: review sites, streamers, media, media buyers. Affiliates are paid on CPA, RevShare or a hybrid, and an affiliate's quality shows in the second deposits and LTV of their players.

Yevhen SychovOctober 2026

Who affiliates are

  • Review and comparison sites: search traffic, casino and bonus rankings.
  • Streamers and bloggers: a live audience, often with a promo code.
  • Media and sports portals: banners and integrations.
  • Media buyers: they buy ads and send traffic to landing pages, which is media buying.

They are paid on CPA, RevShare or a hybrid: a small CPA plus a reduced RevShare. A player is tied to an affiliate by a tracking link or promo code, and a postback passes events to the affiliate. More in the article on attribution.

How to measure quality

The number of FTDs from an affiliate says nothing about money. Look at the cohorts of their players: conversion to a second deposit, retention, NGR and LTV at 30, 90 and 180 days.

Cost per returning player = affiliate payouts / players with a second depositFor example, the CPA is €100. Affiliate A: 50 FTDs, 20 second deposits, €5,000 in payouts, €250 per player. Affiliate B: 200 FTDs, the same 20 second deposits, €20,000 in payouts, €1,000 per player.

To compare affiliates on different models, calculate the full cost of a player from the 1st to the 5th deposit, CPA and RevShare included, against that player's LTV.

What to put in the contract

  • The CPA baseline and the window in which it must be met.
  • Allowed geos and sources: only markets the licence permits. No bidding on the casino's brand terms, no incentivised traffic and no advertising to minors.
  • The advertising rules of each market and the affiliate's responsibility for creatives.
  • Fraud: what counts as fraud, and the right to withhold payouts and claw back CPA.

Common mistakes

  • Judging an affiliate by the number of FTDs. Cheap traffic brings many first deposits and few second ones.
  • Not looking for fraud. Fake sign-ups for CPA, multi-accounts and cookie stuffing eat the budget first.
  • No feedback. The affiliate cannot see the quality of their players and cannot clean up their traffic. Share data on second deposits and retention.
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