A leaderboard promotion ranks players against each other over a defined period — by total wagered, by number of qualifying spins, by biggest single win, or by a points formula — and pays a prize pool to those who finish highest.
Definition
A leaderboard promotion ranks players against each other over a defined period — by total wagered, by number of qualifying spins, by biggest single win, or by a points formula — and pays a prize pool to those who finish highest. They run on slots, live casino and sportsbook, often tied to a game provider's network campaign, and are a common engagement and retention tool.
The ranking metric determines the behaviour they reward: a turnover-based leaderboard rewards volume of play, a biggest-win leaderboard rewards high-variance betting.
Because the mechanic explicitly encourages players to bet more than others to move up the ranking, and often more than they otherwise would, leaderboard promotions are among the gamification features regulators and responsible-gambling frameworks look at closely.
In context
For affiliates, leaderboard promotions are heavily searched (players look for the current ones) and are legitimate content to cover — the prize pools, the qualifying games, the ranking metric and the dates are all useful information. But the framing matters.
Honest content states clearly what metric the leaderboard ranks on (usually turnover), that climbing it means wagering more, that the prize pool is a small fraction of the total wagered by all participants, and that most players who chase a leaderboard position will lose far more than any prize they might win.
The responsible-gambling boundary is that content should not encourage leaderboard chasing. Reviews and promo pages can list active leaderboards factually, but should not use "climb the rankings" or "you're only X spins from the top" hooks, should not present the prizes as achievable value, and should note that turnover-based competition is a mechanic that pushes toward heavier play.
An affiliate aligning with safer-gambling expectations treats a turnover leaderboard as a design feature to describe critically, keeps age-gating and responsible-gambling messaging prominent, and does not build funnels around the competitive urgency the promotion is engineered to create.
Worked example
An affiliate lists the week's active leaderboards with prize pools, qualifying games and dates, and explains each ranks by turnover, so climbing means wagering more, and that the prize pool is tiny relative to total participant wagering. It does not use urgency hooks, flags turnover-ranked competition as a play-heavier mechanic, and carries responsible-gambling messaging.
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