The second season of the Locker Room Bonus initiative by betPawa has seen 490 Ghana Premier League players taste the reward paid immediately after each match to winning squad members.

During the season, a total of GH¢1.23 Million was given out in Locker Room Bonuses to the league’s players from 17 out of the 18 participating teams. Kumasi’s Asante Kotoko did not opt in to the initiative.

The LRB was introduced in the GPL during the 2022/23 season to celebrate winners and further reward great performances. For the just-ended 2023/24 campaign, the amount paid out per player was more than doubled from GH¢150 the previous season to GH¢400.

This winning bonus is paid to all players that make the squad list per match in the Ghana top-tier league. The money is paid directly to their mobile phone wallets immediately after winning a match and before the players leave the stadium, hence the term Locker Room Bonus.

“We have always sought to go beyond assisting sport management bodies in administration costs of the game to giving more to the players in terms of direct benefits as a way to motivate and celebrate them further,” said betPawa’s Country Marketing Manager Nii Armah Ashong-Katai.

A total of 3,094 LRB payouts were completed successfully during the season which ended on Sunday June 16th, with an impressive maiden championship for surprise package FC Samartex 1996. The team, who were only promoted to the GPL for the first time two years ago, sealed an incredible season as champions by beating Accra Lions 2-0. Samartex had finished 10th in their league debut during the previous season.

“It sat well with us and the vision that we have, it has added a lot of competition during training,” said FC Samartex’s Business Development Manager Paul Ayamba.

The team’s Captain Emmanuel Adu Siaw added: “After games you have your phone vibrating with a certain amount of bonus. It is very exciting to us.”

The betPawa Locker Room Bonus is currently also being run in betPawa-affiliated sports leagues in Rwanda and Uganda . The betting brand’s management has previously said that the system used to distribute the bonus is open to like-minded leagues and corporations that would like to reward players in a similar way.