iGaming Glossary: B2B Terms from ADR to Whitelist

An iGaming glossary for B2B readers defines the revenue, licensing, compliance and affiliate terms used between operators, suppliers, regulators and partners. The terms below run from ADR to whitelist, with the statute, regulator or date behind each one where it matters, and a link to the page on this site that covers the topic in depth.

Definitions reflect the position as of October 2026. Where a term means different things in different contracts, such as NGR, the entry says so rather than picking one version.

What is the difference between GGR, GGY and NGR?

GGR (gross gaming revenue) is stakes minus winnings paid, before any costs, and the Gambling Commission calls the same measure GGY (gross gambling yield). NGR (net gaming revenue) starts from GGR and subtracts bonuses and, depending on the contract, gaming taxes and fees. Taxes such as Sweden’s 22% gaming tax from 1 July 2024 are charged on gross revenue.

The worked example below uses invented round numbers for a single month to show how the figures relate.

Two NGR figures from different suppliers or affiliate programmes are rarely comparable without reading the definitions clause. Germany is a special case: its 5.3% tax on virtual slots, online poker and sports betting is charged on stakes, not on GGR, so a German NGR line can look very different from a Maltese one at the same handle.

What is a critical gaming supply licence?

A critical gaming supply licence is the Malta Gaming Authority’s B2B licence for companies that supply material game elements, record-keeping software or the control systems behind games to licensed operators. It sits beside the B2C gaming service licence under the Gaming Authorisations Regulations (S.L. 583.05) and is the usual route for studios and platform providers based in Malta.

Other regulators use different names for the same idea. Great Britain licenses suppliers through gambling software operating licences, Sweden has required a licence for gambling software since 1 July 2023 with an application fee of 230,000 kronor, and Ontario registers gaming-related suppliers through the AGCO. The licensing hub compares these routes.

Which self-exclusion registers should operators know?

National self-exclusion registers block a player across every licensed operator in a market, and checking them is a licence condition rather than a choice. In Great Britain GAMSTOP has been mandatory for online operators since 31 March 2020 under social responsibility code provision 3.5.5; Sweden uses Spelpaus, Germany OASIS, Denmark ROFUS and the Netherlands Cruks.

None of these registers reaches unlicensed sites. That gap is why regulators pursue affiliates who promote offshore brands to excluded players, and why the responsible gambling compliance guide treats register checks as a minimum, not the whole programme.

iGaming terms A to C

A

Autoplay: A feature that runs spins without a click for each one. Great Britain removed autoplay from online slots in October 2021, Germany bans it for virtual slots, and Ontario’s AGCO fined Booming Games $70,000 in August 2026 over a prohibited auto-play feature.

ADR (alternative dispute resolution): An independent body that rules on a player complaint once the operator’s own process is exhausted. Licensees in Great Britain must use a Commission-approved ADR provider. The Malta Gaming Authority’s Player Support Unit stopped ruling on individual disputes on 1 April 2019, so MGA players go to ADR bodies such as eCOGRA, and the Curaçao Gaming Authority does not mediate individual disputes either; see Curaçao licensing.

Admin fee: A deduction an affiliate programme takes from net revenue before revenue share is calculated, usually justified as covering platform, payment or bonus costs. The percentage is set in the affiliate contract.

Affordability check: A review of whether a customer can sustain their level of spending, using data such as income indicators or credit reference information. In Great Britain these sit inside the financial risk checks debate and the Commission’s social responsibility codes.

Aggregator: A B2B platform that bundles games from many studios behind one technical integration and one commercial contract, so an operator does not have to integrate each studio separately. The aggregator usually handles game delivery, wallet calls and reporting. More in the B2B supply chain guide.

AML (anti-money laundering): The laws, policies and controls that stop gambling being used to move criminal money. In the EU the framework comes from the anti-money laundering directives, and online casinos must identify customers who stake or win EUR 2,000 or more, including linked transactions.

B

B2B and B2C licence: A B2C (business-to-consumer) licence lets a company offer gambling to players; a B2B (business-to-business) licence covers suppliers whose games or systems are used by licensed operators. Malta issues both, calling its B2B category a critical gaming supply licence; see the MGA licence guide.

Back office: The operator-side tools for managing players, payments, bonuses, risk and reporting, often supplied as part of a PAM or turnkey platform.

Bonus abuse: Customer behaviour that exploits promotional terms, for example opening multiple accounts to claim the same welcome offer. Regulators expect operators to publish fair, clear terms before relying on abuse rules to void winnings.

C

Channelisation: The share of a country’s gambling spend that goes to licensed operators rather than unlicensed ones. Regulators use it to judge whether a licensing regime works: Spelinspektionen reported 84% for Sweden in 2025, and the GGL has reported a channelisation figure of 77% for Germany.

Chargeback: A card payment reversal requested by the cardholder through their bank. High chargeback rates raise payment costs and can lead acquirers to drop a merchant.

CPA (cost per acquisition): A one-off affiliate payment for each referred player who meets a qualifying condition, typically a first deposit plus a minimum amount wagered. The qualifying baseline is defined in the deal, not by any regulator.

Critical gaming supply: The Maltese term for B2B services that a licence must cover: supplying and managing material elements of a game, software that generates or processes regulatory records, and the control system that software runs on. It is defined in the First Schedule of the Gaming Authorisations Regulations.

Cruks: The Dutch central exclusion register, which licensed operators in the Netherlands must check before letting a player gamble.

Customer due diligence (CDD): The standard identity and risk checks an operator carries out on a customer: identifying and verifying the person, understanding the purpose of the relationship and monitoring activity over time.

iGaming terms D to H

D

DNS blocking: An order requiring internet service providers to stop resolving the domains of unlicensed gambling sites. Norway has allowed DNS blocking since 1 January 2025 under the Gambling Act (pengespilloven), and Germany’s GGL uses network blocking alongside payment blocking.

Directional criterion: The test Sweden uses to decide whether an unlicensed site targets Swedish players. Signs include Swedish-language text, marketing in Sweden or deposits and withdrawals in Swedish kronor.

Duty of care (zorgplicht): The Dutch obligation on licensees to prevent excessive and addictive gambling, enforced by the Kansspelautoriteit. ComeOn’s Dutch operator was fined €750,000 for duty of care failures in January 2026; see the enforcement tracker.

E

EDD (enhanced due diligence): Extra checks applied to higher-risk customers, such as source of funds and source of wealth evidence, senior management approval or closer transaction monitoring. Late EDD is one of the most common findings in Gambling Commission enforcement cases.

F

FTD (first-time depositor): A referred player who makes their first deposit. Affiliate dashboards count FTDs as the main acquisition metric, and many CPA deals pay on a qualified FTD rather than on registration.

Financial risk check: A Gambling Commission term for checks on a customer’s financial vulnerability at set levels of net deposits or losses. The design and thresholds have been the subject of Commission consultation and pilots.

G

Game cycle: The unit the Gambling Commission uses for online slots stake limits. A game cycle starts when the player begins a game and ends when the stake is lost or all winnings are paid or made available.

Geolocation: Technology that confirms where a player is physically located before a bet is accepted. US state-regulated markets require it so that bets are accepted only inside state lines, and suppliers such as GeoComply sell it as a service.

GGR (gross gaming revenue): Total stakes minus winnings paid to players, before bonuses, taxes and operating costs. It is the base for most gambling taxes and many supplier fees.

GGY (gross gambling yield): The Gambling Commission’s term for the amount retained by operators after paying winnings but before deducting costs. In practice GGY and GGR describe the same measure.

GlüStV 2021: Germany’s State Treaty on Gambling, in force since 1 July 2021, which allows nationwide licences for virtual slots, online poker and sports betting. The Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL) in Halle (Saale) supervises it.

H

Handle: The total amount wagered, mostly used in sports betting. Handle is turnover, not revenue.

Hold: GGR expressed as a percentage of handle. A sportsbook with $100m handle and $8m GGR has an 8% hold.

House edge: The operator’s expected percentage profit on each unit staked, equal to 100% minus RTP. A game with 96% RTP has a 4% house edge.

Hybrid deal: An affiliate agreement combining a CPA payment with a revenue share, often at a lower share percentage than a pure revenue share deal.

iGaming terms I to O

I

iGaming Ontario (iGO): The AGCO subsidiary that conducts and manages Ontario’s regulated online gambling market, which opened to private operators on 4 April 2022. Operators sign an operating agreement with iGO and register with the AGCO.

J

Jackpot (progressive): A prize pool that grows with a share of each stake across one or more games until it is won. Germany prohibits jackpots in licensed virtual slots under the GlüStV 2021.

K

Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC): The regulator of the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawake in Quebec, founded on 10 June 1996, which has licensed online gambling since 8 July 1999.

KYC (know your customer): The identity verification part of customer due diligence: name, date of birth, address and document checks. In Great Britain operators must verify age and identity before a customer can gamble.

L

LCCP: The Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice: the binding licence conditions and social responsibility code provisions every British licensee must follow. Social responsibility code provision 3.5.5 is the one that requires remote operators to join GAMSTOP; see the UK Gambling Commission licence guide.

LOK: Landsverordening op de kansspelen, Curaçao’s national ordinance on games of chance, in force since 24 December 2024. It replaced the old master licence and sub-licence model with direct licences from the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA).

LUGAS: Germany’s cross-state gambling supervision system: a limit file for the monthly deposit limit and an activity file that stops players gambling with two operators at once.

M

Monopoly market: A market where the state reserves online gambling to one or more state-owned operators. Norway keeps its monopoly under the pengespilloven in force since 1 January 2023, while Finland plans to open a licensed market on 1 July 2027.

MiCA: The EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, fully applicable from 30 December 2024, with national transitional periods ending by 1 July 2026. It regulates crypto-asset service providers that gambling operators may use for crypto payments.

Multi-operator self-exclusion: A single register that blocks a player across all licensed operators in a market, such as GAMSTOP in Great Britain, Spelpaus in Sweden, OASIS in Germany, ROFUS in Denmark and Cruks in the Netherlands.

N

NCO (negative carryover): An affiliate contract clause that carries a negative monthly balance into the next month, so a big player win reduces future commission until the deficit is recovered. Deals with “no negative carryover” reset the balance to zero each month.

NGR (net gaming revenue): GGR after deducting bonus costs and, depending on the contract, gaming taxes, payment fees or platform fees. Because the deductions vary, two NGR figures are only comparable if the contracts define them the same way.

O

OASIS: Germany’s player exclusion system. A self-exclusion lasts at least three months and an exclusion by a third party 12 months, and it applies only to operators with a German licence.

iGaming terms P to R

P

Player funds protection: The arrangement for keeping customer balances safe if an operator becomes insolvent. In Great Britain operators must tell customers how well their funds are protected, from not protected to high protection.

PAM (player account management): The core operator platform that holds player accounts, the wallet, KYC status, limits and transaction history, and connects to games, payments and CRM.

Payment blocking: An enforcement tool that cuts unlicensed operators off from payment providers. The GGL reports that 178 websites were cut off from payment routes in Germany in 2025, and Norway has prohibited payments to unlicensed gambling since 1 June 2010.

PEP (politically exposed person): Someone entrusted with a prominent public function, such as a minister, judge or senior official, plus close family and known associates. PEP status triggers enhanced due diligence under EU and UK AML rules.

POC tax (point of consumption): A gambling tax charged where the customer is located rather than where the operator is based. Great Britain moved remote gambling duties to a point of consumption basis on 1 December 2014.

R

Remote Gaming Duty (RGD): The UK duty on profits from remote casino and slot gaming. HMRC guidance published 26 November 2025 raised the rate from 21% to 40% from 1 April 2026, and a new 25% remote rate of General Betting Duty applies from 1 April 2027.

RevShare (revenue share): An affiliate model that pays a percentage of the net revenue generated by referred players for as long as they play, subject to the contract’s definitions of net revenue, admin fees and carryover. Australia’s ACMA says reforms passed on 19 August 2026 ban activity-based affiliate commissions, with most measures applying from 1 January 2027; see affiliate compliance.

RGS (remote game server): The server that hosts a game’s logic and random number generation and returns results to the operator’s platform. Testing labs certify the RGS build that goes live.

RNG (random number generator): The software that produces unpredictable outcomes in digital games. Regulators require RNGs to be tested and certified by an approved laboratory before release.

ROFUS: Denmark’s register of voluntarily excluded players, run by the Danish Gambling Authority (Spillemyndigheden).

RTP (return to player): The theoretical share of all stakes a game pays back to players over the long run, published as a percentage. It describes the game’s design, not any one session.

RTS: The Gambling Commission’s Remote gambling and software Technical Standards. RTS 14D, on responsible product design, sets a minimum of 2.5 seconds between online slot spins; Stakelogic paid £122,835 in June 2026 after 16 games ran faster.

iGaming terms S to W

S

Seal (licence seal): A clickable badge on an operator’s site that links to the regulator’s validation page. For Anjouan licences the check must be run through the site’s own seal ID; see Curaçao and other offshore licences.

Shared liquidity: Pooling players from more than one licensed market into the same poker tables or games. Sweden allows it under Spellag 11 kap. 1 § with an EEA-licensed partner that holds a licence for the same game type and does not offer games in Sweden without a Swedish licence.

SAR (suspicious activity report): The report a business files with its financial intelligence unit when it suspects money laundering. In the UK SARs go to the National Crime Agency; many EU states call them suspicious transaction reports (STRs). The AML and KYC guide covers reporting duties.

Self-exclusion: A player’s request to be blocked from gambling for a set period. It can be operator-level or multi-operator; Spelpaus periods run from 10 days to “until further notice”, with a minimum of 12 months for the open-ended option.

Source of funds (SoF): Evidence of where the money for a particular deposit came from, such as payslips or bank statements. It answers “where did this money come from?”

Source of wealth (SoW): Evidence of how a customer built their overall wealth, such as employment history, a business sale or an inheritance. It is broader than source of funds and is usually reserved for higher-risk customers.

Stake limit: A cap on the amount staked per game. In Great Britain online slots are capped at £5 per game cycle for players aged 25 and over from 9 April 2025, and £2 for 18 to 24-year-olds from 21 May 2025.

Sub-affiliate: An affiliate who earns a commission on the earnings of other affiliates they recruit to a programme, usually a small percentage of those affiliates’ commission.

Sweepstakes casino: A US model that uses a dual-currency system and “no purchase necessary” entry to argue it is not gambling. Several states have banned it, including California from 1 January 2026 and New York from 8 December 2025.

T

Turnover tax: A tax charged on stakes rather than on gross revenue. Germany’s 5.3% tax on virtual slots, online poker and sports betting is the best-known example, and the operator, not the player, owes it.

Travel rule: The EU requirement under Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, applying from 30 December 2024, that crypto transfers carry originator and beneficiary information. For transfers above €1,000 to or from a self-hosted wallet, the provider must assess whether the customer owns or controls that wallet.

Turnkey: A complete operator solution, usually PAM, game content, payments and back office, run on the operator’s own licence. Compare with white label.

U

Unlicensed operator: A site offering gambling in a market without that market’s licence, even if it holds a licence elsewhere. Sweden banned MGA-licensed Claymore Malta on 8 January 2026 for targeting Swedish players without a Swedish licence.

W

Wagering requirement: The number of times a bonus, or bonus plus deposit, must be staked before winnings can be withdrawn. Sweden only allows licensees to offer a bonus on the first gaming occasion (Spellag 14 kap. 9 §).

White label: An arrangement where a brand runs on a provider’s platform and under the provider’s licence, with the provider holding most regulatory responsibility. It is faster to launch than turnkey but leaves less control.

Whitelist (GGL): Germany’s official list of licensed gambling operators under § 9(8) GlüStV 2021. On 22 September 2026 the GGL reported 129 operators and intermediaries with 229 permitted websites; offers not on the list are treated as unlicensed in Germany.

How should teams use this glossary?

Use it to align vocabulary before contracts and audits. Legal, finance, compliance and affiliate teams often use the same word for different numbers, and a disputed NGR definition or an unclear “qualified FTD” can cost more than a pricing gap.

1. Pick the five terms that drive money in your contracts (usually NGR, admin fee, NCO, CPA baseline and qualifying deposit) and write your own definitions into the agreement.
2. Map compliance terms (KYC, EDD, SoF, SoW, PEP, SAR) to named owners and written procedures.
3. Check market terms such as channelisation, whitelist and directional criterion against the European markets guide before entering a new country.
4. Review recent cases in the regulator enforcement tracker to see how regulators apply these terms in practice.

Frequently asked questions

Is GGY the same as GGR?

In practice, yes. GGY (gross gambling yield) is the Gambling Commission’s name for the amount operators keep after paying winnings and before costs, which is what most other markets call GGR (gross gaming revenue).

Why do NGR figures differ between affiliate programmes?

Because each programme defines its own deductions. One may subtract only bonuses from GGR, another may also subtract gaming tax, payment fees and an admin fee, so the same player activity can produce different NGR and commission.

What does no negative carryover mean in an affiliate deal?

It means a negative monthly balance, for example after a high-rolling player wins, is reset to zero at month end instead of being deducted from future commission. Deals with negative carryover recover that deficit from later months.

What is the difference between a white label and a turnkey solution?

A white label brand runs under the platform provider’s licence, so the provider carries most of the regulatory responsibility. A turnkey operator uses the same kind of platform but holds its own licence and owns the compliance obligations.

What is the difference between source of funds and source of wealth?

Source of funds shows where the money for a particular deposit came from, such as a salary payment. Source of wealth explains how the customer built their overall assets, and is usually requested only for higher-risk customers.

What does LOK stand for in Curaçao licensing?

LOK is the Landsverordening op de kansspelen, Curaçao’s national ordinance on games of chance. It came into force on 24 December 2024 and moved licensing to direct licences issued by the Curaçao Gaming Authority.