Your first deposit, doubled.

No — and any platform telling you otherwise is describing a coupon, not a money match. A stake has to be funded before it can lock into escrow, because the pot you are playing for is the other player's money and yours.

What Locked does instead is take the first deposit and double it. Put in the $5 minimum and you have $10 in the wallet; put in $25 and you have $50, which is the largest version of the offer. At the $2.50 minimum stake that is twenty head-to-head matches before you have spent a cent of your own beyond the deposit.

There is no bookmaker and no house edge on Locked: you stake against another real player, both stakes sit in escrow during the match, and the better player takes the pot minus a flat 10% fee.

1. Open the offer link — it lands on Run It, where the terms are restated before you sign up — and create your account. Creating one costs nothing and takes about 30 seconds.
2. Add the gaming ID for your game (EA ID, PSN, Xbox or 2K name) so opponents can find you in-game.
3. Make your first deposit, anything from $5. The match lands with it — 100% of the deposit, capped at $25 — with a 7-day countdown visible in your wallet.
4. Create a challenge from $2.50 or accept one from the open lobby. Both stakes lock into escrow when the match is accepted.
5. Play the match on your console as normal. Submit the result with a screenshot — the winner is paid instantly, and disputes are reviewed by a human admin within 24 hours.

Welcome offers in this space have a reputation problem: competitors bury the conditions and collect one-star reviews when players find out at cash-out time. We publish ours next to every mention of the offer — here is each one, and why it exists:

One thing that is not on the list: there is no condition attached to your own money. Cash you deposit and winnings from cash matches are withdrawable from day one. The 3× playthrough applies to the bonus we add on top, and it ends when that bonus is cleared or expires.

Every mode and format on the platform — bonus balance behaves exactly like deposited money except for the withdrawal rule:

• EA FC — Online Seasons, FUT Friendlies or Play a Friend, on PS5, Xbox or PC, on EA Sports FC 27 or EA Sports FC 26.
• NBA 2K — head-to-head Play Now matches, on NBA 2K27 or NBA 2K26.
• Madden — 1v1 head-to-head, on Madden NFL 27 or Madden NFL 26.

Comparing platforms first? Our honest comparison of Players' Lounge alternatives covers fees, escrow and dispute handling across eleven sites — including where each one beats us, and the five we checked and left off. Wondering whether we are trustworthy at all? Is Locked legit? walks through escrow, disputes and payouts — and the things we cannot claim yet.

If what you want is evidence rather than an explanation, the two free Welcome Cups are published in full. The EA FC 26 Welcome Cup payout table lists 16 winners splitting $200 across 64 entrants; the Madden 26 Welcome Cup payout table lists 8 winners splitting $200 across 30. Every row carries the player's name and the amount they received.