Lexicon

Net Gaming Revenue (NGR)

GGR minus bonuses, loyalty costs and certain fees — a narrower tax/reporting base used in some regimes.

Net Gaming Revenue narrows GGR by deducting bonuses, loyalty costs and certain fees — moving the measure from "what players lost" toward "what the operator actually earned". Affiliate deals are typically struck on NGR, and some tax regimes permit bonus deductions that shift the effective base partway there.

The practical caution: NGR has no single definition. Every contract and every statute draws the deduction list differently, so a number labelled NGR is meaningless without the definition attached — the first thing to check in any revenue-share agreement.

NGR matters most in two rooms: the negotiation where an affiliate's revenue share is set, and the parliamentary committee where a government decides whether bonuses should be tax-deductible. In both, moving from GGR to NGR shifts real money — a market with heavy welcome offers can show NGR fifteen or twenty percent below its GGR.

The regulatory trend runs against generosity: Sweden limits operators to a single welcome offer, the Netherlands has banned untargeted advertising outright, and Germany's product rules leave little room for bonusing at all. Where bonuses shrink, the GGR–NGR gap narrows, and the distinction loses some of its bite.

In this atlas NGR appears mostly by its absence: the tax tables quote GGR because statutes do, and NGR enters only where a regime's deduction rules pull the effective base downward. For anyone reading operator financial reports against the rates here, the distinction is the first reconciliation to make — published revenue lines are usually NGR-flavoured, while the tax applies to the gross figure.

Frequently asked questions

What gets deducted from GGR to reach NGR?
Typically bonus and free-bet costs, loyalty-programme expenses and certain payment or platform fees. The exact list is contractual or statutory — there is no universal standard, which is why any NGR figure needs its definition attached.
Why do affiliate deals use NGR instead of GGR?
Because bonuses acquired the player: the operator argues the affiliate should share the acquisition cost, not just the gross win. A 30% revenue share on NGR can be worth substantially less than the same percentage on GGR for a bonus-heavy brand.
Do any regulators tax NGR?
Some regimes allow bonus deductions before tax, moving the effective base toward NGR without using the name. Reading the statute matters more than the label — the same word covers different deduction lists in different markets.
What should I check first in an NGR clause?
The deduction list and who controls it. A clause letting the operator add "platform fees" or "processing costs" unilaterally lets the payable base shrink over time. The definition section of the agreement is where revenue-share disputes are usually decided. Experienced partners negotiate caps on deductible categories for exactly this reason — an uncapped deduction list converts a revenue share into a discretionary payment.
Does NGR matter to players at all?
Indirectly: a market where regulators squeeze bonusing (Sweden's one-offer rule, the Dutch advertising ban) narrows the GGR–NGR gap, and the difference players notice is fewer promotions. The accounting term is the upstream cause of the thinner welcome page.
Related terms

Gross Gaming Revenue

← Full glossary