Marketing & Affiliates Glossary
Acquisition, affiliate and retention terms, with the economics behind each one.
Marketing in regulated iGaming is a numbers business: cost per acquisition, first-time depositors, revenue share against CPA, sub-affiliate chains and the wagering requirements that make a bonus affordable. This page defines the metrics operators report to their boards and the deal terms affiliates negotiate. Each entry gives the formula where one exists and a sense of the ranges seen in mature markets, drawn from the affiliate and acquisition-cost analyses on iGamingHub.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
CPA is the total marketing spend it takes to acquire one depositing player — a core unit-economics metric for operators.
What it means
Cost Per Acquisition is what you pay, all in, to turn a stranger into a first-time depositing player: ad spend, affiliate fees, bonuses, and creative, divided by the players acquired. It's also a deal structure — paying an affiliate a fixed one-off sum per converted player, as opposed to ongoing revenue share.
Why it matters for operators
CPA is half of the equation that decides whether a brand makes money — the other half being lifetime value. In mature markets CPA has climbed steeply, with some verticals running 250-650 per first-time deposit, which squeezes margins and reshapes decisions like white-label vs turnkey. Rising CPA is pushing operators toward retention, hybrid affiliate deals, and LTV-focused bonus design rather than chasing raw volume.
Example
If a campaign spends 50,000 and brings in 100 depositing players, the CPA is 500 — which only works if each player's expected lifetime value comfortably clears that figure.
First-Time Depositor (FTD)
An FTD is a player who has made their first real-money deposit — the standard unit of acquisition that affiliate deals and marketing budgets are priced in.
What it means
A First-Time Depositor is a registered player who has put real money into their account for the first time. It's the moment a lead becomes a customer, and it's the event most CPA deals pay out on. Registrations are cheap and easy to inflate; deposits are the first signal of genuine intent, which is why FTD — not sign-ups — is the currency of affiliate contracts.
Why it matters for operators
FTD count is the top of the revenue funnel, but on its own it says nothing about quality. A traffic source can deliver hundreds of FTDs who deposit the minimum, clear a bonus and never return — expensive noise. Serious programmes read FTD together with lifetime value and churn by source, and structure affiliate deals (baseline deposit amounts, wagering activity clauses) so a payable FTD actually resembles a customer.
Example
An affiliate deal pays 250 per FTD with a 20 minimum deposit. Without a wagering clause, a fraud ring can register accounts, deposit 20, wager once and trigger payouts — which is why most contracts define an FTD as deposit plus qualifying activity.
Sub-Affiliate
A sub-affiliate is a partner recruited by another affiliate, who earns an override commission on the traffic their recruits send.
What it means
Sub-affiliation lets an existing affiliate recruit other affiliates under their account. The recruiter (the master affiliate) earns an override — typically 2-10% of the revenue share or CPA generated by their recruits — while the sub-affiliate is paid their own standard deal. The operator gets reach into channels it would never have found alone; the master affiliate turns their network into passive income.
Why it matters for operators
Sub-affiliate programmes scale acquisition without scaling the affiliate management team, but they blur accountability. Compliance obligations (advertising standards, licensed-market targeting) still land on the operator even when the offending banner was placed by a sub-affiliate three layers removed. A workable programme pays overrides AND enforces the same vetting, tracking and content rules at every tier — and caps the tiers, because each layer adds margin cost and compliance distance.
Example
A master affiliate running an SEO portfolio recruits 15 streamers as sub-affiliates on a 5% override. The streamers deliver 400 FTDs a month; the master earns the override on all of them without producing a single new page — and the operator's affiliate manager handles one relationship instead of sixteen.
VIP Program
A VIP program is the structured retention scheme for an operator's highest-value players — hosts, tailored rewards and faster service, under growing regulatory scrutiny.
What it means
A VIP program formalizes how an operator treats its highest-value players: dedicated account managers (VIP hosts), tailored bonuses and cashback, faster withdrawals, higher limits, event invitations and personal reactivation outreach. Entry is usually triggered by deposit volume, lifetime value or hand-picked review. Because a small share of players generates a disproportionate share of revenue, the VIP book is often the single most valuable asset an operator manages.
Why it matters for operators
The economics are compelling and the risks are concentrated in the same place. Regulators — the UKGC most aggressively since its 2020 rules on high value customer schemes — require affordability checks, source of funds evidence and senior management accountability before VIP treatment, precisely because incentivizing the biggest spenders collides with responsible gambling obligations. A modern program pairs commercial tooling (segmentation, host CRM, comp budgets) with compliance gates: enhanced due diligence before status upgrades, and harm markers that outrank revenue targets.
Example
A player deposits 8,000 in a month and trips the VIP review trigger. Before a host makes contact, compliance completes an affordability and source of funds check — only then does the player get a named manager, a tailored cashback deal and weekend-priority payouts.