Player value in iGaming M&A
Buyers pay for players who come back
Revenue gets attention, but retention sets the price. Model what each new depositor is worth over two years, how fast they pay back, and what a few points of retention adds to the business.
On this page
Operators, sportsbooks and B2C platforms in any market. Bring the cohort tables and we will show how buyers will read them.
Cohort value model
What is a new player worth?
Enter your own numbers. The model follows one month of new depositors for 24 months, on contribution after tax and bonuses, the way buyers build it.
- 24-month value per player
- $411
- Value to acquisition cost
- 2.1x
- Solid, with room to grow
- Payback
- Month 4
One month of new players is worth
$169.1K
after acquisition cost, over 24 months
Lift month-two retention by 5 points
+$332.2K a year
+$35 per player, before any growth
Modelled with a simple retention curve. Real cohorts vary by market, product and season; we rebuild this from your own cohort tables in a mandate.
How buyers read your players
Four signals that move the multiple
Month-two retention
The single number buyers look at first. It shows whether acquisition brings in real players or bonus hunters, and it compounds through every later month.
Cohort stability
Buyers line up monthly cohorts on one chart. Curves that sit on top of each other read as a repeatable machine; curves that sag with each new cohort read as rising acquisition cost.
Revenue concentration
How much revenue comes from the top 1% of players. A healthy spread lowers risk; heavy reliance on a few high-value players invites questions on responsible gambling and churn.
Payback by channel
Affiliate, paid, organic and CRM cohorts behave differently. Splitting payback by channel shows where growth capital will earn the most after the deal.
The cohort data pack
What to have ready before buyers ask
A clean cohort pack lets buyers underwrite future value instead of discounting for uncertainty. It is often the fastest way to defend a price.
- Monthly cohort tables by first-deposit month, market and channel
- Net gaming revenue, bonus cost and gaming tax per cohort
- Active players, depositors and reactivations by month
- CPA and revenue-share costs by acquisition source
- Responsible gambling and KYC controls applied to high-value players
- Product mix: casino, sportsbook, poker and live dealer by cohort
Questions
Player value in a sale
How do buyers value player databases in iGaming?
They model future contribution from existing cohorts, using retention curves and margin after gaming tax, bonuses, payments and platform fees, and then test how reliably new cohorts can be acquired at today’s cost. Stable, well-documented cohorts support a higher multiple.
What is a good LTV to CPA ratio for an online casino or sportsbook?
Many buyers treat a 24-month contribution LTV of around three times acquisition cost as strong, with payback inside six to nine months. The right benchmark depends on market, product mix and tax regime.
Why does month-two retention matter so much?
Most player value is created by those who return after their first month. A few extra points of month-two retention lift every later month, so it often moves valuation more than headline revenue growth.
Should LTV be calculated on gross or net revenue?
Buyers work on contribution: net gaming revenue after bonuses, gaming taxes, payment costs and platform or supplier fees. Presenting it that way from the start avoids a re-cut in diligence.
Can Acquiry help prepare cohort data for a sale?
Yes. We help shape cohort tables, retention curves and channel payback into the format buyers expect, so the data room answers the valuation questions before they are asked.
Private, under NDA
Turn your cohorts into the case for a higher price.
We rebuild your player economics the way buyers do, then take them to the acquirers who value them most. Privately, under NDA.