What the price is
Pay per head pricing looks simple: a flat weekly fee for each player who was active that week. Most of the category prices this way. The number the provider advertises is the per-head rate, and it is rarely the number that decides what you actually pay.
Your real bill is made of four parts. The rate. The definition of active. Whatever is priced on top. And, at some providers, a percentage of your casino. This guide takes them one at a time, then shows how to estimate your own week.
The per-head rate
The rate is the dollar figure per active player per week. A higher rate usually buys more: live betting, a bet builder, better support. A lower rate often means a stripped tier, slower support, or a site that stutters on a busy Sunday.
BookiePerHead keeps two tiers so the choice is clear. Standard is $8 per active player per week and holds the sportsbook, the racebook, the digital casino, player and agent management, reporting and the back office. Pro is $11 and adds live betting and Bet Builder. Live dealer casino is the one thing priced on top, at $13 per active player per week on either tier, and only if you take it. The full rate card is public and the same for everyone.
Compare the rate against what is bundled, not on its own. A cheaper tier that charges extra for the casino, or for live betting, can cost more than a dearer tier that includes both.
What "active" means
This is the part almost nobody publishes, and it changes the bill more than a dollar on the rate does.
At BookiePerHead an active player is one who had a bet settle in the billing week. Settled means graded: won, lost or pushed. A player who logs in and does not bet is not billed. A player who deposits and does not bet is not billed. A bet placed on Sunday that grades on Tuesday is billed in the week it grades.
When you compare quotes, ask each provider the same question: what counts as active? A provider that bills on logins, or on your whole roster, will cost more than one that bills on settled bets, even at a lower rate. If they cannot answer in one sentence, that is the answer.
The casino percentage
Here is the line that separates an honest price from an expensive one. Some providers quote a low per-head rate and then take a share of what your casino makes on top, taken again every week you keep running.
Think about the shape of it rather than the figure, because the figure depends on your book. A share of casino action is a slice of the best-earning thing you run, and it grows when you grow. There is nothing to negotiate down later, because there was never a fixed number to negotiate. BookiePerHead takes no percentage of casino action in either tier. The digital casino is in the tier price, and the casino page says so at length.
When you compare providers, add the casino percentage to the per-head rate before you decide which one is cheaper. A slightly higher flat rate with no percentage is usually the lower bill once a real month runs through it.
What is priced on top
Ask what is an add-on and what is in the tier. Live betting, bet builders, live dealer tables and account management are the usual candidates. At BookiePerHead live dealer casino is the only add-on. It is priced separately because it costs more to run, not because it is a lever to raise later, and nothing else about your account changes whether you take it or not.
Ask also about the things that are not on the rate card: a setup fee, a minimum, a contract. BookiePerHead has no long-term commitment; you can leave at the end of any week. Anything else you are quoted should be in writing before you compare.
How to estimate your own week
- Count the players who had a bet settle in a normal week. Not your roster, not your logins.
- Multiply by your tier rate.
- Add the add-on rate for each player who used live dealer that week, if you take it.
- If you are comparing another provider, add their casino percentage to their rate first, and ask how they count active.
- Multiply the weekly figure by 4.33 for a monthly estimate.
The rate card is on the pricing page, and the active player rule is published there and on the platform overview. Your bill should be something you can check against your own weekly reports, not something you take on faith.
Is it worth the cost?
The alternative to a per-head fee is building and running your own sportsbook: developers, hosting, an odds feed, support staff, and the permanent job of keeping it all up on game day. That is real money and months of time before the first bet. Pay per head turns it into a weekly cost that follows your action. A slow week costs less. A busy week costs more in dollars and the same per player. That alignment is why the model exists, and why it works for a book of ten players and a book of a hundred.
It helps to know what a sportsbook actually keeps. Nevada's books held 7.75% of everything wagered over the twelve months to 30 June 2026, on the Gaming Control Board's own monthly figures. Across the US market, commercial sportsbooks reported $3.91 billion of revenue on $38.84 billion of handle in the second quarter of 2026, per the American Gaming Association. That is a little over ten cents on the dollar. Those are regulated books at national scale, not a comparison to your own week, but they are the order of magnitude a book's income sits at. A cost that scales with players rather than with handle is the part of that you can plan around.
If you are new to the model, start with what pay per head is. If you are weighing a move, read how to switch providers without losing players, or get a demo and put your own numbers through it.