Commission calculator: revshare vs CPA vs hybrid
Put the same traffic through all three commission structures and see which one pays more — with the admin fee taken off first, and with the negative carryover clause switched on. It cannot tell you what your players will actually be worth; that figure is an input, and getting it from your affiliate manager is the real work.
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Best twelve-month total
€300,000 CPA
On 100 depositors a month worth €900 each.
| Model | Per month | Twelve months |
|---|---|---|
| Rev share | €24,300 | €291,600 |
| CPA | €25,000 | €300,000 |
| Hybrid | €24,650 | €295,800 |
| Gross net gaming revenue | €90,000 |
|---|---|
| Admin fee (10%) | −€9,000 |
| Revenue your share is calculated on | €81,000 |
| Your 30% share | €24,300 |
| Month | Commission | Paid to you | Balance carried |
|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | €24,300 | €24,300 | €0 |
| Month 2 | -€9,000 | €0 | €0 |
| Month 3 | €24,300 | €24,300 | €0 |
| Three-month total | €48,600 |
The two deals pay the same when a depositor is worth €925.93 in net gaming revenue. Below that, CPA pays more; above it, the rev share does — and unlike the CPA it keeps paying next year. Carrying the losing month forward costs €9,000 of the next month’s commission — a number the headline rate never mentions.
Illustrative, not a projection. Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
What these numbers mean
The choice between a revenue share and a CPA is a choice about who carries the risk. A CPA is settled the moment a player deposits: you are paid a fixed amount and you never hear about that player again, whether they lose ten euros or ten thousand. A revenue share pays you a slice of what the operator actually keeps, month after month, for as long as the player keeps playing — and in a month where a player wins big, that slice can be negative.
The break-even line in the results is the whole argument in one figure. Below it, the CPA is simply the better deal for the first year. Above it, the revenue share overtakes — and then keeps paying in year two, which the CPA does not. The default example puts break-even near EUR 926 of net gaming revenue per depositor; if your players are worth EUR 400, arguing for a higher rev share is arguing for less money.
A worked example
Take 100 depositors a month, each producing EUR 900 in net gaming revenue over their first year, against a 30% revenue share with a 10% admin fee and a EUR 250 CPA. The gross is EUR 90,000; the admin fee takes EUR 9,000 before you are in the room; your share of the remaining EUR 81,000 is EUR 24,300. The CPA on the same traffic is EUR 25,000. Those two deals look identical on a spreadsheet — until you notice that the revenue share players are still generating revenue in month thirteen, and the CPA players are gone.
Now switch negative carryover on and give one month a losing result. The good months still earn EUR 24,300 each, but the losing month’s deficit is carried forward and has to be earned back before anything is paid. Three months that would have paid EUR 48,600 pay EUR 39,600. Nothing about the headline “30% revenue share” changed.
The two mistakes people make here
Comparing gross to net. The rate you are quoted applies to net gaming revenue after deductions, not to what players deposit and not to gross gaming revenue. A 35% share with a 15% admin fee pays less than a 32% share with none. Always ask what is deducted before the percentage is applied, and get it in writing.
Ignoring the clause that has no number in it. Negative carryover never appears in a rate card, because it is not a rate. It is a sentence about what happens to a negative balance, and on volatile casino traffic it can quietly cost more than the difference between a 25% and a 35% deal.
What we would do this week
- Email your affiliate manager and ask for two figures: average net gaming revenue per depositor on traffic like yours, and everything deducted before the share is calculated.
- Open the terms document, search it for “carryover”, “negative” and “reset”, and put what you find into the calculator above.
- Run both the deal you have and the deal you would ask for. If the gap over twelve months is worth less than an hour of your time, stop negotiating and go write something.
Comparing an offer you have been sent?
The directory lists the published terms for every program we could verify, so you can see what the same traffic is worth elsewhere before you sign anything.