Operating means holding the licence, taking the deposits, running the KYC, and carrying the geo and age gating. It is a business with a compliance department attached. Supplying means the operator does all of that, and you provide certified game content under their licence. Smaller surface, smaller margin per player, far more platforms.
The supplier route has its own gates. Content needs testing by an accredited lab against the target jurisdiction's rules. Return-to-player and volatility must be configurable and provable. Every bet needs a record that a regulator can re-check independently, which means logging the state a quote was made in, the quote, and the outcome.
Hosting is the part studios underestimate. If you host the game yourself, integration for the operator is two calls and a webhook, and you keep control of the certified build. If they host it, every operator becomes a deployment.
Commercially, revenue share on net gaming revenue is the norm, with a floor for the smaller platforms. Build once, licence broadly, and let the operator carry the brand and the regulatory weight.