There is no single universal NGR formula; each operator defines it in the affiliate agreement. A typical version reads NGR equals GGR minus bonuses, minus payment fees, minus gaming taxes, minus an admin fee. Suppose your players generate 10,000 of GGR, the operator granted 2,500 in bonuses, paid 500 in processing fees, and applies a 15 percent admin fee on the remainder. NGR lands at roughly 5,950, and a 40 percent RevShare pays 2,380, not the 4,000 you might have expected from GGR.
This is why two 40 percent deals can pay wildly different amounts on identical traffic. The percentage is public; the deduction list is buried in the contract. Vague wording like "and any other costs the operator deems attributable" is an open door for the NGR base to shrink over time without the rate ever changing. Reading the NGR definition line by line before signing is not paranoia, it is the core diligence of a RevShare deal.
NGR also interacts with negative carryover. When deductions and player wins exceed GGR in a month, NGR goes negative, and many contracts roll that negative balance into the next month before you earn again. Combined with bonus-heavy acquisition periods, where operators spend aggressively on the same players you referred, NGR can lag well behind the player value you see in the raw numbers.
Why it matters
Your RevShare income is a percentage of NGR, so the definition of NGR is effectively part of your rate. Affiliates who reconcile reported NGR against player-level GGR each month catch deduction creep early, negotiate from evidence, and know when a clean CPA beats a RevShare on paper worth more.
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