CPA, or cost per acquisition, is an affiliate commission model under which the affiliate earns a fixed, one-off fee for each new depositing player they refer to an operator. Payment triggers only when the referred player meets defined qualification criteria — typically a minimum deposit and sometimes a minimum amount wagered — so a click or even a registration alone does not earn the fee. CPA delivers predictable, immediate cash flow per conversion, which makes it well suited to affiliates running paid traffic that needs a clear, upfront return.
Worked example: an affiliate agrees a CPA of 120 per qualifying player in a given market. They run a campaign that costs 2,000 in advertising and produces 25 players who each deposit and clear the qualification threshold. Gross commission is 25 x 120 = 3,000, against 2,000 in ad spend, for a net profit of 1,000 on that campaign. Crucially, the affiliate is paid the same 120 whether that player goes on to lose heavily or wins and walks away, since CPA is decoupled from the player's lifetime results. Rates vary sharply by market, from roughly 50 to 150 in emerging regions up to several hundred for Tier 1 jurisdictions.
CPA matters because it lets affiliates calculate per-campaign profitability cleanly and front-loads earnings, unlike
RevShare, which pays a percentage of the operator's ongoing net revenue from the player. The common mistake is choosing CPA purely for quick cash without modelling player value: high-value players who generate large long-term losses can be far more lucrative under revenue share, while low-deposit traffic often suits CPA. A
Hybrid Deal blends a smaller CPA with a revenue-share tail. A further caveat is that operators monitor CPA traffic for quality and may claw back fees if referred players prove non-genuine or bonus-driven.