Pricing in iGaming is the most opaque part of an opaque industry. Ask three casino aggregators what they charge and you'll get three different pricing models, two NDAs, and one polite refusal. By the time you've signed a contract, you've spent six weeks reverse-engineering what the deal actually costs.
This article is what we wish we'd had when we were on the other side of the table. A real breakdown of the three pricing models you'll encounter, the math behind each one, and the questions every operator should ask before signing.
The three pricing models
Every casino aggregator pitches one of three pricing structures. Knowing which one you're being sold is the first step in evaluating whether the price is fair.
- Revenue share — you pay a percentage of every dollar of GGR (gross gaming revenue). Industry standard ranges from 8% to 20% depending on volume tier, content mix, and content exclusivity.
- Flat rate — you pay a fixed percentage of GGR regardless of vertical, provider, or volume. Modern crypto-native aggregators have pushed this as low as 1%.
- Hybrid — a base flat rate plus revenue share above a minimum monthly guarantee. Often used to lock smaller operators into volume commitments they can't hit.
What revenue share actually costs
Revenue share looks attractive on day one because there's no upfront commitment. The real cost compounds as you grow. A 15% revenue share on $1M GGR is $150K a month. The same percentage on $10M GGR is $1.5M a month. Your aggregator's revenue scales linearly with your success — they have no reason to optimize you, because optimization eats their margin.
Revenue share also tends to come with hidden costs that don't show up in the headline percentage:
- Per-vertical surcharges — live casino and sportsbook often carry separate, higher revenue-share tiers
- Per-provider markups — top-tier studios (Evolution, Pragmatic, Hacksaw) are sometimes priced separately at 18–25% rev share
- Setup and integration fees — $25K–$100K just to onboard, before you've launched a single game
- Minimum monthly guarantees — the floor you pay regardless of actual revenue, often 6–12 months in
- Reporting and intelligence add-ons — analytics, fraud detection, and bonus engine sold as separate SKUs
Why flat rate aligns incentives
Provider fees sit underneath every model — you pay the studio's rate whichever aggregator you use. What you're really choosing is the aggregator layer on top. A flat 1% API fee on GGR predicts itself. At $1M GGR you pay $10K. At $10M GGR you pay $100K. At $100M GGR you pay $1M. The aggregator's revenue grows because yours does, but the percentage stays where you signed it. Your CFO can model 24 months ahead with confidence. Your procurement team doesn't have to renegotiate every time you hit a new revenue tier.
What 1% looks like at every revenue tier
Concrete comparison of the aggregator layer. Provider fees are identical either way (say 10% of GGR), so set them aside and compare a typical 3% aggregator margin against a 1% API fee:
- $500K monthly GGR — 3% = $15K, 1% = $5K. You save $10K/month.
- $1M monthly GGR — 3% = $30K, 1% = $10K. You save $20K/month.
- $5M monthly GGR — 3% = $150K, 1% = $50K. You save $100K/month.
- $20M monthly GGR — 3% = $600K, 1% = $200K. You save $400K/month.
Over a 24-month contract at $5M monthly GGR, the difference between a 3% margin and a 1% API fee is $2.4M — before you count the per-provider markups and setup fees that rev-share contracts bury. That's the cost of opaque pricing.
Questions to ask before signing
Whatever aggregator you're evaluating — including us — these are the questions that surface the real number.
- What is the flat-rate or percentage figure, in writing, on the first call?
- Does the rate change by vertical, provider, or content type? If yes, get the full matrix.
- What are the setup, integration, and onboarding fees? Are they refundable?
- What is the minimum monthly guarantee, and how long is the lock-in?
- Is wallet, bonus, compliance, and reporting included, or sold as add-ons?
- What is the cost of adding a new provider on request — and the lead time?
- What happens to pricing if I hit 2x, 5x, 10x my current volume?
Pricing transparency is a feature
We charge a 1% GGR API fee. Provider rates pass through at cost, with no markup, on one invoice. No revenue-share tiers. No setup fees. No minimum monthly guarantees. No add-on SKUs for wallet, bonus, or compliance — they're in the box. That's the deal, on the first call, in writing.
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