Padel enters gamification era as Lucra and No Strings launch rewards platform

The social competition platform Lucra has announced its first venture in the padel space through a strategic partnership with No Strings, a tech-enabled padel club concept in the US designed to marry smart-court hardware with hospitality-grade social spaces.

Founded in 2024 by ‘eatertainment’ and hospitality entrepreneurs Dov Penzik and Charlie Myers, No Strings is building a portfolio of innovative padel clubs in the US designed to combine “elite-level play with elevated social experiences”. 

The collaboration embeds Lucra’s white-label technology directly into No Strings’ mobile ecosystem, in-venue kiosks and on-court screens, “empowering players to compete in head-to-head matches, knockout tournaments, and group play for everything from $5 cash to limited-edition sponsored products – all verified and settled in real time”, the organisations said.

Lucra’s white-label platform allows clients to host competitions, create personalised challenges, and provide users’ rewards. It powers gamification for entertainment, hospitality and consumer brands, including Dave & Buster's, Five Iron Golf, Puttshack, TouchTunes and Hollywood.com.

Lucra and No Strings said the new gamification platform for padel offers three “first-of-its-kind” advantages:

• 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.

With launch planned in the coming months, the companies said they are “aiming 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 said it has also opened its Series A round to fund its launch of and expansion into new clubs across North America.

Michael Madding, chief operating officer at Lucra Sports, commented: “Padel is exploding worldwide, yet technology is only just beginning to amplify the on-court fun.

“By partnering with No Strings’ 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 racquet sports, where we can plug directly into existing infrastructure to unlock new revenue streams while being additive to the play experience.”

Dov Penzik, CEO of No Strings, added: “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 finalised 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.”

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