World’s fastest-growing sport enters gamification era as the visionaries behind eatertainment ventures Bounce, Flight Club Darts (North America licensee) and Puttshack partner with leading social competition platform Lucra to turn rallies into rewards, products and real-money competitions
Lucra, the leading social competition platform, is making its debut in the world of padel through a new partnership with No Strings, Inc. a stealth-mode club concept fusing smart-court technology with premium, hospitality-led design. The collaboration will see Lucra’s white-label technology integrated directly into the No Strings digital ecosystem: powering mobile apps, in-venue kiosks, and on-court screens. The result? Players can engage in head-to-head matches, knockout tournaments, or group competitions for everything from $5 wagers to exclusive product drops, automatically tracked, verified, and settled in real time.
“Padel is exploding worldwide, yet technology is only just beginning to amplify the on-court fun,” said Michael Madding, Chief Operating Officer at Lucra Sports. “By partnering with No Strings Inc. computer-vision scoring, we turn every rally into a trackable datapoint and every friendly wager into a friction-free settlement—no spreadsheets, no IOUs. It’s the perfect launchpad for Lucra’s expansion into racket sports, where we can plug directly into existing infrastructure to unlock new revenue streams while being additive to the play experience.”
For Dov Penzik, Co-Founder of No Strings, Inc, a successful multi-time founder within the competitive social entertainment industry, the partnership cements the company’s position as a first mover in the sport: “our technology is built to foster local community and competition through world-class facilities and cutting-edge tech. Lucra lets us amplify that ethos—imagine neighbourhood ladders on Monday, company tournaments on Tuesday, and a $10,000 invitational streamed live on Saturday, all finalized in-app before players even hit the snack bar. Together we’re proving that the future of padel is as much about software as it is about hardware–this partnership marks an exciting and significant step forward for the sport.”
More Visits, Longer Stays — Venues running Lucra contests typically see guest frequency and average dwell-time increase, thanks to replay features, auto-generated scoring, and live leaderboarding keeping players climbing for that top spot.
Configurable Prizing — Operators can toggle between cash pots, credits, or (sponsor-funded) rewards, driving up average per customer spend
Zero Operational Drag — Lucra manages identity verification, geolocation, compliance, and risk, integrating with the Concept’s booking and POS systems in just weeks.
For No Strings Inc, the partnership represents an investment in modern, behavior-driven customer engagement. By leveraging Lucraʼs technology, the platform can reward players for participating in fun, social experiences that drive loyalty and ongoing connection with others.
Through this partnership, Lucra continues its expansion into new verticals, demonstrating the flexibility of its technology to support a wide variety of applications and industries. By meeting players where they are, Lucra is rapidly growing its addressable market and broadening its brand appeal across physical and digital spaces.
With launch planned in the coming months, both companies aim to deliver a best-in-class social competition layer that reminds everyone of the joy of competition and makes every game more meaningful and rewarding for players.
No Strings Inc. has now opened its Seed round to fund its launch of and expansion into new clubs across North America. Inquiries can be sent to dov@no-strings.com.
