Glossary
What is NGR (net gaming revenue)?
NGR is GGR minus bonuses, gaming taxes and agreed fees. What is deducted, why revenue-share deals are based on it, and how an owner reads the monthly statement.
Updated
Definition
Net gaming revenue, NGR, is gross gaming revenue after the costs that are tied directly to play are taken out: bonuses and promotional credits, gaming taxes and levies, and other fees the parties have agreed to deduct, commonly payment processing and sometimes content fees. Which items are deducted is defined in the contract, so two companies can report different NGR from the same GGR. (source: iGaming Times glossary)
NGR is the number most revenue-share agreements are built on: affiliate deals, white-label and platform revenue shares, and partner payouts are usually a percentage of NGR, not of GGR or deposits. (source: iGaming Times glossary)
Example
A site posts 80,000 USDT GGR in a month. It gave 12,000 USDT in bonuses, paid 2,400 USDT in payment-processing fees and 9,600 USDT in content fees, and operates where no gaming tax applies. If the contract deducts all three, NGR is 56,000 USDT. If content fees are not a deduction under that contract, NGR is 65,600 USDT. Same month, same play, different NGR, which is why the definition matters more than the formula. (Illustrative numbers.)
Formula
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NGR = GGR − bonuses and promotional costs − gaming taxes and levies − other agreed fees. (source: iGaming Times glossary)
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GGR = total bets − total wins. (source: iGaming Times glossary)
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Worked example (illustrative): 80,000 − 12,000 − 2,400 − 9,600 = 56,000 USDT NGR.
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NGR margin (%) = NGR ÷ GGR × 100; in the example 70%. A falling NGR margin with stable GGR means bonus or fee cost is rising.
Comparison
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GGR vs NGR: GGR is the house result of play; NGR is what is left after play-related costs. Suppliers usually charge on GGR; partners are usually paid on NGR.
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NGR vs profit: NGR still carries marketing, staff, platform and other overheads; profit comes after all of them.
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NGR vs deposits: a revenue share on NGR pays on the house result; a share on deposits pays on cash in. The same 10% can be a very different amount.
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Negative NGR: when wins exceed bets (a jackpot month) or bonuses exceed GGR, NGR is negative. Contracts specify whether a negative month is written off or carried forward against the next months. (source: iGaming Times glossary)
Impact on the owner
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If your income is a share of NGR, every deductible item is a line you should know and, where you control it, manage: bonus cost is the biggest lever in most months.
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Ask for the deduction list in writing: bonuses, taxes, payment fees, content fees, chargebacks, and the treatment of negative months and jackpot contributions. The list is the deal.
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NGR tells you whether promotions pay back: rising GGR with flat NGR means the bonuses bought turnover, not revenue.
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Reconcile the statement against the back-office GGR report and the bonus ledger each month; disagreements are almost always a definition difference, not a maths error.
How it works in practice
At month end the platform produces the GGR report per game and provider, the bonus ledger (credits issued, wagered and forfeited) and the fee ledger (payment processing, content). The contract's NGR definition is applied line by line to produce the revenue-share statement; each party checks it against its own ledgers. Where a deduction is a percentage of GGR (content fees) it moves with play; where it is a fixed cost it does not, so NGR margin improves with scale. Regulated markets add gaming tax at the rate of the licence jurisdiction; crypto-only sites often have none, but still define a reporting currency and a conversion rule. (source: iGaming Times glossary)
FAQ
- Not exactly; NGR is an industry term with a contractual definition, while accounting net revenue follows the applicable standard.
- Almost always; bonus cost is the first deduction in most definitions, including wagering-credit bonuses and free spins at their cash value. (source: iGaming Times glossary)
- Because the partner shares the costs tied to play; paying on GGR would let one side spend the other's money on bonuses.
- Depends on the contract: written off, or carried forward until future NGR covers it. Read the clause before signing.
- No; deductions only reduce it. Equal only when there is nothing to deduct.