Negotiating the Contract: How to Remove “Negative Carryover” Before You Send a Single Click

You don’t fix this clause after traffic starts. You fix it up front—politely, firmly, with clean math and crisp alternatives. If you’ve ever watched a strong month vanish because one whale ran hot and your net revenue went negative for three months, you already know the pain.

“Negative carryover” is the clause that lets that pain compound. Your job is to replace it with a reset (or quarantine it) before a single impression ships.

Why negative carryover quietly kills your LTV

Here’s the real story: one high-variance player wipes out three average cohorts, your Net Revenue goes negative, and your next month’s performance has to climb out of a hole before commissions resume. It distorts your ROI, inflates your payback period, and makes forecasting a joke. The fix isn’t drama; it’s contract language. Get the reset in writing, and your performance marketing becomes math again.

The math in plain sight

Assume $30,000 net win in June, −$40,000 (one whale) in July, $25,000 in August, 40% rev share:

• With carryover: July sets you to −$10,000, so August’s first $10,000 merely clears the ledger; you get paid on $15,000 → $6,000.
• No carryover: Every month stands alone; you get 40% of $25,000 → $10,000.

It’s the same traffic. Only the clause changed.

Your negotiation stance (in one sentence)

“I’m happy to prove quality, but I won’t bankroll variance. Either we reset monthly or we quarantine high rollers so ordinary cohorts aren’t taxed by single-player volatility.”

Keep repeating that principle—calmly—no matter how many ways someone rephrases “that’s just how we do it.”

Clause-by-clause cheat sheet (what to change, and how)

Clause (what to look for)	Why it hurts	Your fix (ask)	Acceptable fallback
Negative Carryover	Delays or eliminates commission on normal months	Monthly reset: Net Rev < 0 resets to $0 at month-end	High-roller quarantine: isolate any player with ≥$X swing; only the HR bucket carries over
Bundling (casino + sports + poker)	One product’s losses wipe another’s gains	Product unbundling: calculate and settle per product	If bundling remains, set per-product floors and cap carryover
Admin/Platform Fees (25–35%)	Inflates “costs” before your share	Cap admin fee at ≤20% of GGR or publish an itemized, fixed schedule	Hard cap with annual review
Minimum Activity	Lets program zero out if you miss a threshold	Remove it or convert to soft target with notice-and-cure	Freeze (don’t terminate) and preserve historical tiers
Retroactive Term Changes	Mid-flight goalpost shifting	30-day written notice; you may pause traffic during notice	“No retroactive effect” language
Payment & Reporting	Cashflow lag + opaque BI	NET15 settlement, row-level event exports, and S2S postbacks	NET30 with weekly provisional reports

Put it in writing: model contract language you can paste

No Negative Carryover.
“Net Revenue and Commission shall be calculated on a calendar-month basis. In no event shall a negative Net Revenue balance in any Monthly Period carry forward. For clarity, Net Revenue < $0 in a given Monthly Period resets to $0 at 00:00:00 UTC on the first day of the following calendar month.”

High-Roller Quarantine (if they won’t drop carryover entirely).
“If a single Player ID generates a negative Net Revenue swing exceeding $10,000 in a Monthly Period, such player shall be placed in a ‘High-Roller’ segment. Any negative Net Revenue associated with this segment may carry forward within that segment only and shall not offset Net Revenue from non-High-Roller players. The High-Roller segment resets to $0 if cumulative Net Revenue remains negative after three consecutive Monthly Periods.”

Product Unbundling.
“Casino, Sportsbook, and Poker shall be treated as separate products. Net Revenue, bonuses, fees, taxes, and Commission shall be calculated per product; negative Net Revenue in any product shall not offset positive Net Revenue in another product.”

Admin Fee Cap.
“Administrative/Platform Fees shall not exceed twenty percent (20%) of GGR for any product and shall be itemized. Jackpot contributions and regulated taxes are excluded from Admin Fees.”

Payment & Data.
“Operator will provide weekly row-level event exports or API access (registrations, deposits, wagers, player-hash, timestamps, currency) and settle Commission NET15 via bank transfer or stablecoin at the mid-market FX rate on the settlement date.”

When to ask (timing = leverage)

Ask before approval, not after launch. Your leverage peaks when they want your audience and you haven’t committed inventory. If you’re already approved, run a 14-day pilot with capped traffic, then reopen terms with performance data in hand. Quarter-end is fertile—targets matter and managers are empowered to deal.

The email templates that actually get answers

Use your voice, but keep the spine intact. Short, respectful, numbers-forward.

1 Initial outreach (pre-approval) — set the frame

Subject: Terms alignment before we launch

2 Counter when they insist on carryover — offer the quarantine

Subject: Re: Terms for {Brand} pilot

Thanks for the quick turnaround, {FirstName}. I understand your default on carryover.

I can move forward if we quarantine high-variance outliers so normal cohorts aren’t taxed. Proposed middle ground:

• HR quarantine at $10k swing per player; only that bucket carries forward
• 3-month sunset on any negative HR balance
• Products unbundled for settlement

We’ll cap the pilot at {cap} and review after two weeks. If all looks good, we’ll expand placements.

Fair?

{YourName}

3 Escalation with math — be specific, not emotional

Subject: One pager: carryover impact on my ROI

{FirstName},

Quick model attached that shows why the reset matters for us. With 40% RS, $30k net win in June, −$40k in July (one whale), $25k in August:

• With carryover: we clear the ledger and get $6k in August
• With monthly reset: we get $10k

Same traffic. The clause is the difference. If HR quarantine + 3-month sunset is workable, I’ll green-light the pilot today.

Thanks for considering,
{YourName}

4 After a good pilot — lock improvements while momentum is hot

Subject: Formalizing terms post-pilot (no carryover + NET15)

The two-week pilot cleared our targets: {regs}, {FTDs}, {deposit/FTD}. I’d like to lock in:

• No Negative Carryover (or HR quarantine + 3-month sunset)
• Product unbundling
• NET15 settlement with weekly row-level exports/API

If you’re good with that, send the addendum and I’ll schedule the next placements.

{YourName}

5 Reactivation email (sleeping program) — trade scale for terms

Subject: Re-activating {Brand} with scaled plan (terms tweak)

We can reactivate {Brand} for Q{X} with a {traffic} plan across {GEOs}. I’ll need the following to proceed:

• No carryover (or HR quarantine as above)
• Admin fee cap at 20% of GGR
• Per-product settlement

If you approve those, I’ll push the updated placements this week.

{YourName}

What to do when they say “we can’t”?

Sometimes “can’t” means “won’t right now.” Ask for a pilot exception on your account, a revenue-share step-down paired with no carryover (e.g., 45% with carryover vs 40% without), or the high-roller quarantine with a short sunset. You’re not trying to win a philosophy debate; you’re trying to de-risk your P&L.

The negotiation levers you control (use them)

Deal size and inventory matter, but so do assets that lower their risk. Show your funnel QA (S2S postbacks keyed by click_id), your compliant ad copy, and your GEO/device mix. Offer to cap early exposure, share cohort reports weekly, and implement bonus abuse filters on your side. You’re reducing their fear so they can reduce your clause burden.

A simple “term sheet” you can paste into email or a doc

Term	Your proposal	Why it’s reasonable
Negative carryover	None (monthly reset)	Standard with serious programs; aligns incentives
High-roller policy	Quarantine ≥$10k single-player swings; 3-month sunset	Isolates variance without taxing normal cohorts
Product scope	Casino/Sports/Poker unbundled	Prevents cross-product offsets
Admin fee	≤20% of GGR, itemized	Transparency; avoids silent erosion
Data & tracking	S2S postbacks + weekly row export/API, UTC timestamps	Deterministic audits, fewer disputes
Payment terms	NET15, multi-currency/stablecoin optional	Cashflow sanity for growth
Notice of changes	30 days written, no retroactivity	Stability for media planning

Common pushbacks—and calm responses that work

“Carryover is standard.”

“Completely understand; that’s why we’re offering the HR quarantine. It protects you from variance and protects us from compounding delays. It’s the same risk split, just cleaner accounting.”

“We can’t change the global template.”

“Happy to run this as an account-level addendum. I’ll keep it simple and mirror your definitions—just the reset, unbundling, and timelines.”

“Finance won’t approve NET15.”

“Let’s do NET30 with weekly provisional exports and a clear FX rule. If performance holds for 60 days, we’ll flip to NET15.”

Don’t sign without these three guardrails

1. Definitions you can compute (Net Revenue, Admin Fee components, regulated taxes, jackpot contributions). If you can’t recreate the number, you can’t dispute it.
2. UTC everywhere and product-level reporting. Timezone mismatches are the quietest source of “missing” conversions.
3. Right to pause traffic on unilateral term changes during the notice period. Otherwise you’ll be “surprised” on a Friday.

If you have already signed a bad clause

You can still negotiate an addendum before sending more traffic. Use performance as leverage: “We’ll scale placements if we can lock the reset/high-roller quarantine.” If the answer is still no, move budget to programs that behave like partners. The only thing worse than negative carryover is negative carryover you feed with fresh clicks.

A short anecdote for context

We ran a clean two-week pilot with a new brand: tight GEO, S2S tracking, no bonus abusers. Their default carried over losses and bundled casino with sportsbook.

We asked for the reset; got the classic “can’t” response. We sent the quarantine clause and a three-line math sheet like the example above. They agreed to quarantine and a three-month sunset—account-level. Six months later, one high roller had two heater months; the HR bucket carried forward, the regular cohorts paid normally, and no one argued. Same traffic, fewer escalations, healthier cashflow. It was the clause.

Final word

This isn’t about being difficult. It’s about building a predictable, scalable business where variance doesn’t own you.

Ask for the reset or quarantine before a single click. Unbundle products. Cap admin fees. Get row-level data and sane payment terms. Keep your tone professional, your math simple, and your alternatives ready. If a program won’t meet you halfway, they’ve told you what the relationship will be. Believe them—and send your traffic to partners who act like partners.