Commercial
First Time Depositor (FTD)
FTD
Definition
A player who has just made their first deposit. The conversion of a registration into an FTD is a primary commercial KPI and a standard affiliate payout trigger.
Why it matters
FTD is the foundational acquisition metric in iGaming. The funnel from impression to registration to verified account to first deposit is the most-tracked operator workflow, and FTD count is the standard volume metric for marketing performance. Operators report monthly FTD counts in earnings, sometimes broken down by vertical and channel. The cost per FTD is the more useful diagnostic, because it directly drives CAC and unit economics.
Affiliate contracts almost universally tie payouts to FTD events with qualifying criteria. Internal marketing teams set FTD targets that drive media budget allocation. Product teams measure their work on registration-to-FTD conversion. The metric's centrality is why "FTDs" gets used as a verb in operator slang. ("How many FTDs did the campaign drive?") The number is also one of the cleaner cross-operator comparisons because the definition is relatively stable: a player who made their first deposit in the period, deduplicated against prior history.
Frequently asked questions
Does FTD include re-depositors who came back after a long dormancy?
No. FTD specifically means the player's first-ever deposit at the operator. Returning dormant players are usually tracked separately as reactivations.
Is FTD the same across markets?
The definition is stable; the qualifying criteria attached to FTD payment events (minimum deposit, qualifying wager, KYC completion) vary by market and contract. Internal FTD counts are usually clean; affiliate FTD counts are subject to the contractual qualifying criteria.