iGaming has its own vocabulary, and the metrics decide who makes money. Operators think in GGR and NGR. Affiliates think in FTDs and commission. Media buyers think in cost per FTD. When everyone in the chain uses the same definitions, deals are clearer and campaigns get optimised on the numbers that actually pay.
This guide explains the key iGaming metrics from the media buyer's side: what each one means, how it's calculated and how it connects to traffic buying.
Why do iGaming metrics matter so much?
The numbers are big enough that small differences matter. Global online gambling GGR reached $293bn in 2024, according to H2 Gambling Capital. In Great Britain, remote casino, betting and bingo produced £8.3bn of gross gambling yield between April 2025 and March 2026, from 25.7 million active accounts. At that scale, a one-point change in deposit conversion or retention is worth a lot of money, which is why operators, affiliates and media buyers all obsess over the same handful of KPIs.
Which acquisition metrics matter most?
FTD (first-time deposit)
A first-time deposit is the first time a new player puts money into their account. It's the event most CPA deals pay on and the event traffic should be optimised toward. Registrations are an early signal; the FTD is the conversion.
Cost per FTD
Total spend divided by the number of first-time deposits. This is the number that decides whether a campaign scales. It only makes sense next to player value: a higher cost per FTD in a market with strong redeposits can beat a cheap FTD that never returns.
CPA and customer acquisition cost
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is total acquisition spend divided by the number of players acquired. For advertisers, CPA is what you pay per acquired player. For affiliates, a CPA deal is a fixed commission per qualifying player, usually triggered by a first deposit plus a minimum deposit or wagering condition.
Conversion rates
Track every step: click to registration, registration to FTD, FTD to redeposit. The registration to deposit step is where most value is lost, and where landing pages and payment options make the biggest difference.
Click-through rate (CTR)
Clicks divided by impressions. Useful for judging creatives, but a high CTR with no deposits is a warning sign, not a success.
Which revenue metrics do operators use?
GGR (gross gaming revenue)
Total amount wagered minus winnings paid out to players. It's the operator's revenue before costs.
NGR (net gaming revenue)
GGR minus bonus cost, payment fees, provider fees and, depending on the operator and market, gaming taxes and other direct costs. Revenue share deals are usually calculated on NGR, so the exact definition in your contract matters.
ARPU (average revenue per user)
Revenue divided by the number of active players in a period. It helps compare GEOs and traffic sources on value, not just volume.
Which retention metrics show player quality?
LTV (player lifetime value)
The total net revenue a player generates over their time with the operator. LTV decides how much you can afford to pay per FTD and is the main reason revenue share deals can outperform CPA over time.
Redeposit rate
The share of depositing players who deposit again. It's one of the clearest early signs of player quality and helps separate real players from bonus hunters.
Retention rate and churn rate
How many players stay active after 7, 30 or 90 days, and how many stop. Retention varies strongly by GEO and product.
Active players
Players who played or deposited in a given period. Daily active users and monthly active players are the usual cuts. Operators use them to track player engagement and the health of the player base.
Deposit frequency
How often depositing players top up. Combined with average deposit size, it shows which acquisition channels bring high value players.
Bonus abuse rate
The share of players who register only to extract bonuses. High bonus abuse on a traffic source is an early warning sign that the traffic will never produce real revenue.
How do affiliate deals use these metrics?
Affiliate commission is built directly on these metrics. A CPA deal pays per qualifying first-time depositor. A revenue share deal pays a percentage of NGR from referred players. Hybrid deals combine the two.
Revenue share is the biggest model at the top of the affiliate industry: Better Collective, one of the largest listed affiliates, reported that 49% of its 2024 revenue came from revenue share and 25% from CPA. Affiliate software vendor Scaleo reports that standard online casino revenue share deals typically sit at 25% to 35% of NGR, with top-tier deals higher and sportsbook deals lower. Those percentages only mean something if you know how NGR is defined in your contract, which is why the revenue metrics above matter to affiliates as much as to operators.
How do these metrics connect to buying traffic?
| Metric | Who watches it | What it tells a media buyer |
|---|---|---|
| CTR | Media buyer | Whether the creative works |
| Registration rate | Media buyer, affiliate | Whether the lander works |
| FTD and cost per FTD | Everyone | Whether the campaign is profitable |
| Redeposit rate | Affiliate, operator | Whether the traffic brings real players |
| NGR and LTV | Operator, RevShare affiliate | How much each player is worth |
The mistake most campaigns make is optimising on the first row. Clicks and registrations are cheap to produce; deposits and redeposits are not.
Which metrics matter most at each stage of a campaign?
- Launch (first days): CTR and registration rate tell you whether creatives and landers work.
- Testing (first weeks): registration to FTD rate and cost per FTD tell you which GEOs, devices and sources are worth keeping.
- Scaling: redeposit rate, retention and ARPU tell you whether the players you're buying are worth more volume.
- Long term: LTV and NGR per player decide whether revenue share deals and higher bids pay back.
Moving too fast from the first stage to the third is the most common mistake. A campaign with great CTR and cheap registrations can still lose money once deposit data arrives.
How do you track iGaming metrics properly?
- Use S2S postbacks to pass registration, FTD and redeposit events from the operator or tracker back to the traffic source. See our guide to S2S postbacks.
- Pass SubIDs so every event is tied to a GEO, device, publisher and creative.
- Account for attribution lag. Deposits can arrive days after the click. Our click to FTD tracking guide explains how to handle late conversions.
- Optimise on deposits. On Traffic Nomads, multi-event tracking and FTD Magnet AI let campaigns optimise toward first deposits rather than clicks.
Which iGaming metrics should you focus on?
For media buyers: cost per FTD and redeposit rate. For affiliates: FTDs, commission per player and, on RevShare, NGR per player. For operators: NGR, LTV and retention. Agree on the definitions before the campaign starts, track every event to the source, and optimise on the metric that pays.
