Affiliate programmes in iGaming are built around three payout schemes: CPA, revenue share and hybrid. What separates them is not the size of the reward but who carries the risk on the quality of the audience acquired, and how quickly the partner sees the money.
CPA: a fixed fee per player
Under CPA the partner receives an agreed sum for every player who meets a qualification condition — usually a registration with a deposit above a threshold plus a minimum amount of play. The risk moves to the operator: if the player leaves after the first deposit, the fee has already been paid. That is why CPA terms normally come with traffic quality checks and a right to reverse a qualification where fraud indicators appear.
Revenue share: a cut of the result
Here the partner takes a percentage of the net gaming revenue produced by its players and keeps taking it while those players stay active. The risk is shared: weak traffic pays the partner nothing, while strong traffic pays for years. The trade-off is deferred income and dependence on the deduction list the operator uses to build the base.
Hybrid, and when it is chosen
A hybrid combines a reduced CPA payment with a lower revenue share percentage. The point is to cover the partner's acquisition cost immediately while leaving it a stake in the player's long-term value. Such terms are typically offered to partners whose traffic has already been validated against historical data.
There is no universally better model: the choice follows the payback horizon of the traffic and how far both sides trust its quality.