How affiliate commission funds cashback
Cashback sites are paid a share of the revenue you generate for the casino — typically 30 to 50% of net gaming revenue — and return part of it to you, keeping the rest as margin. The money isn't promotional spend and isn't subsidised. It's a redistribution of commission that the casino pays regardless of whether any of it reaches you.
WagerSave Editorial·Updated ·6 min read·Cashback MechanicsThe three commission structures
Affiliate deals come in three shapes, and which one an operator is on shapes what it can offer.
Revenue share. The affiliate receives an ongoing percentage of the net revenue a referred player generates, for the life of the account. Typically 25–50%, tiered by volume. This is the structure that makes recurring cashback possible.
CPA — cost per acquisition. A one-off payment per qualifying player, commonly 50–300 depending on vertical and geography. Paid once, then nothing. A site on pure CPA can offer a sign-up rebate but has no ongoing income to fund continuing cashback from.
Hybrid. A reduced CPA plus a reduced revenue share. Common for newer partnerships.
Any site offering continuous wager cashback is on revenue share. It has to be — there's no other income stream that recurs.
This is worth knowing as a player, because it tells you the affiliate's interests. On revenue share, the affiliate earns nothing unless you keep an account open and active for a long time, which is why the model tends toward retention rather than churn.
NGR: what the percentage actually applies to
Commission is almost never paid on gross revenue. It's paid on net gaming revenue — gross minus a list of deductions.
Typical deduction stack:
A "50% revenue share" on NGR after 30% of deductions is 35% of what the casino actually won. The headline percentage and the real one differ substantially, and the gap varies by jurisdiction — duty rates alone swing the number by double digits.
Negative carryover is the other clause that matters. If a player wins big, the affiliate's balance for that player can go negative, and many contracts carry that deficit into the following month before commission resumes. A cashback site paying rebates on a player who is currently in negative carryover is paying out of pocket.
What "theoretical loss" means covers how the industry prices around this.
Following the money on a single wager
10,000 wagered on a 96% RTP slot:
Theoretical loss = 10,000 × 4% = 400 NGR after ~30% deductions = 280 Affiliate commission at 40% of NGR = 112 Cashback to player at 35.71% = 40.00 Affiliate margin = 72.00
Four subtractions between your turnover and your rebate. This is why a rate that sounds large as a percentage of theoretical loss produces a modest number as a percentage of what you wagered.
It's also the ceiling test. A cashback site cannot pay more than its commission. Any advertised rate implying otherwise is quoted in a different unit, capped somewhere unstated, or not going to be paid.
Why rates differ between sites
Same affiliate, different partners, different rates. Four reasons:
Commission tier. Volume partners negotiate better splits. An affiliate sending significant traffic to one operator gets a higher percentage than a new partner, and can pass more of it on.
Vertical margin. CS2 case sites and mystery box platforms run different commission structures from crypto casinos. Rates in each vertical cluster around what that vertical's contracts support.
Deduction stack. An operator in a high-duty jurisdiction has lower NGR on identical gross revenue, so identical percentage terms produce less money.
Affiliate's own margin choice. Some sites keep more, some keep less. This is the only variable under the affiliate's direct control, and it's usually the smallest of the four.
Rate ranges by vertical: The Crypto Cashback Index — Q3 2026.
Why attribution can't be added later
Commission only exists if the casino can attribute your account to the affiliate, and attribution is written at account creation from the tracking parameter on your click.
Register without one and there's no commission on that account, permanently. Nothing exists to share. Operators very rarely retrofit attribution and generally treat it as an exception rather than a process.
This is a technical constraint rather than a policy one, which is why it's so rigid: the reconciliation runs off data captured at signup, and there's no mechanism to insert a referrer into a record that was created without one.
Tracked link first, always. It's free and it's the only moment it can be done.
Where cashback sites actually earn
Three revenue lines, in rough order of size:
Retained margin — the difference between commission received and cashback paid. The main one.
Non-rebated partners — some partnerships pay commission on offers where no rebate is passed through.
Volume tier improvements — as the affiliate's aggregate traffic to an operator grows, its commission percentage rises. Growth improves the split on players already referred.
That third one is the reason the incentives point in a reasonable direction. The affiliate's income improves when its player base is large and active over time, which requires the rebates to actually be paid and the rate to stay competitive.
None of this makes the affiliate a neutral party. It does mean the interests are less opposed than they look.
Frequently asked questions
How do cashback sites make money if they give money back?
They keep the difference between the commission the casino pays them and the rebate they pass to you. The commission exists regardless; the only variable is how it's split.
Does using a cashback link cost me anything?
No. The casino pays the same commission to whoever referred you. Without a tracked link, the commission simply isn't generated and nobody receives it.
Why do cashback rates vary between casinos?
Commission tiers, vertical margins, and jurisdictional deductions all differ. An operator in a high-duty market produces less net revenue on identical gross, so identical terms pay less.
Can I add a referral to an existing account?
Almost never. Attribution is written at account creation and there's usually no mechanism to insert it afterwards.
18+. Cashback is funded by margin generated from negative-expectation games. If gambling stops being entertainment, find support.