UK-listed online gambling operator Bwin.party digital entertainment has decided to award its two top execs bonuses worth nearly £1.65m before control is transferred to buyer GVC Holdings.

On Monday, Bwin.party announced that CEO Norbert Teufelberger (pictured on the right) had received a restricted share award of 916,091 Bwin.party shares, while CFO Martin Wiegold (on the left) received a nil-cost share option of 674,152 shares. Based on Monday’s closing price of 104p, Teufelberger’s bonus is worth over £944k, while Wiegold stands to collect a comparatively paltry £702k.

The shares were doled out months ago as part of the company’s 2014 Incentive Plan (BIP) and based on the company’s performance in the year ending Dec. 31, 2014. The announcement had been delayed due to the protracted wheeling and dealing surrounding Bwin.party’s efforts to flog itself to the highest bidder.

The bonuses – which follow similarly generous money showers in 2014 – represent just over two-thirds of the maximum allowable entitlement under the BIP, suggesting that Bwin.party’s board is capable of exercising some restraint when It chooses to. Yet the overriding question remains: just what did either exec do to justify such a handsome top-up using shareholder money?