Business & Operations

Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR)

GGR is the total amount players stake minus the winnings paid back to them. It's the operator's top line before bonuses, taxes and fees, and the base most gaming taxes are charged on.

What it means

Players on a mid-size casino stake 1,000,000 across a month and win 950,000 back. The operator's GGR is 50,000. Not the million, not the deposits, just the 50,000 the house kept. It's the first number a regulator asks for, the number a vendor prices against, and the number a tax authority multiplies by its rate.

Gross Gaming Revenue is gross because it sits before anything is taken off: bonuses, gaming duty, platform fees, payment costs, affiliate commissions. It's the one figure every licensing regime defines in law. You can argue about what NGR deducts. You can't argue with the UKGC about what counts as a stake.

The formula

GGR = total stakes − total winnings paid to players

Vertical	How GGR is calculated	Watch out for
Slots and RNG table games	Bets minus wins per spin or hand	Bonus-money bets usually count as stakes
Live casino	Same as RNG, settled per round	Reconcile the studio's GGR figure with yours
Sportsbook	Settled stakes minus settled payouts	Open bets stay out until settled
Poker	Rake plus tournament fees	The rake is the GGR
Lottery and bingo	Ticket sales minus prizes	Unclaimed prizes (breakage) get added back in some regimes

GGR as a share of stakes is the hold. A slot floor at 96% RTP holds 4%. A sportsbook with a 7% overround holds roughly 7% of handle over time.

Why it matters for operators

Tax. Most regulated markets charge gaming tax on GGR. Brazil's SPA charges 12% under Law 14,790/2023. The Netherlands charges 37.8% since 1 January 2026. Malta charges 5% on revenue from Malta-based players plus a tiered compliance contribution. The UK's Remote Gaming Duty rose from 21% to 40% in April 2026. A few markets tax stakes instead (turnover tax), which hits low-margin sportsbook far harder than the rate suggests. The tax base vs rate piece works through that maths.

Reporting. Licences come with GGR returns: quarterly to the UKGC, monthly under the MGA's Gaming Tax Regulations, monthly to the SPA in Brazil.

Pricing. Vendors quote as a percentage of GGR because it's auditable from the game logs. A casino with 50,000 monthly GGR on a 12% platform revenue share pays 6,000 to its platform before it has covered marketing, bonuses or payment fees. Content aggregators bill the same way at 8-15%.

Worked example

A casino-and-sportsbook brand serving one market. Deposits are context only; they never enter the calculation.

Line	Stakes	Winnings paid	GGR
Deposits (context)	900,000
Slots, 96% RTP	6,000,000	5,760,000	240,000
Live casino	2,000,000	1,940,000	60,000
Sportsbook, 7% margin	1,500,000	1,395,000	105,000
Poker rake			15,000
Total GGR	9,500,000	9,095,000	420,000
Bonuses issued			70,000 (not deducted)

The 70,000 in bonuses doesn't touch GGR. It's the first deduction on the road to NGR. What the 420,000 costs depends on where the licence sits: 50,400 in tax under Brazil's 12%, 158,760 in the Netherlands, and a fixed licence fee rather than a percentage under Curacao.

How platforms handle it

Every platform in the iGamingHub catalog bills off the operator's GGR feed, whether the contract ends up on GGR or on NGR.

GR8 Tech is listed with a hybrid revenue model and a licence list that includes the Netherlands, Denmark and Brazil; its card notes the platform was built by Parimatch engineers at $1B+ GGR scale. Hub88 is a game aggregator on revenue share with MGA, Curacao and Anjouan licences; its invoice is a percentage of the GGR on the games it serves, so the two GGR feeds must reconcile per game. Salsa Technology is a LatAm platform listed with Brazil and SPA licensing and a hybrid model, which puts it inside the 12% regime above. The Brazil market guide covers what the SPA licence costs on top.

Common confusions

GGR vs GGY. The UK Gambling Commission reports Gross Gambling Yield: stakes plus fees minus winnings. Same figure, different name, and the UK market overview uses it throughout.

GGR vs handle. Handle (turnover) is total stakes. A 10 million handle sportsbook at 7% margin has 700,000 GGR. Hold is GGR divided by stakes; US regulators publish hold, European ones publish GGR.

GGR vs NGR vs revenue. GGR is before deductions. NGR is after bonuses, tax and fees, defined by contract. Listed operators' "revenue" is usually GGR minus bonuses, in between the two.

Regulator bases aren't interchangeable. The UKGC's Remote Gaming Duty counts free plays as stakes, so a bonus spin adds to the taxable base. The MGA taxes gaming revenue with the compliance contribution capped per licence type. Curacao's GCB, under the LOK regime in force since December 2024, charges fixed licence and supervision fees, so GGR there is a reporting figure, not a tax base. Germany skips GGR for online slots and taxes 5.3% of stakes.