Lucra, the leading social competition platform, today announced a partnership with Epic Padel — the Virginia-based padel club operator, padel investor and incubator. Through the collaboration, Lucra will integrate its gamification platform directly into Zero.40, the padel booking and club management app incubated by Epic Padel, enabling real-money and free-to-play competitions across all Epic Padel locations and every operator that white-labels Zero.40 across the United States.
Padel has become the world's fastest-growing sport, now played by more than 30 million people across 130 countries, and the U.S. market is just beginning to hit its stride. Epic Padel has positioned itself at the center of that growth, not only operating premium clubs but actively investing in and incubating padel ventures across the country. By embedding Lucra directly into Zero.40, competitive gameplay travels with the platform to every operator that runs it, making this both a direct club deployment and a meaningful distribution relationship with reach well beyond Epic's own footprint.
Launching this spring across Epic Padel's clubs in Tyson's Corner, Virginia; Richmond, Virginia; Milwaukee; and Charlotte, players will be able to compete in real-money and free-to-play tournaments and games, with all compliance, payments, fraud prevention, and settlement handled automatically by Lucra's plug-and-play SDK. The full feature suite, including peer-to-peer challenges, group competitions, and structured tournament formats, integrates directly into the Zero.40 app, giving players a reason to stay, play, and keep coming back.
"Padel is one of the most exciting growth stories in sports right now, and Epic Padel is building the infrastructure to own that moment in the U.S.," said Dylan Robbins, CEO of Lucra. "What makes this partnership particularly compelling is the dual nature of it. We're not just deploying at their clubs, we're also becoming part of how Epic grows the broader ecosystem. Every operator that runs on Zero.40 is a new venue where players can compete for real money or rewards through Lucra. That's a flywheel that scales with the sport itself."
For Epic Padel and Zero.40, the Lucra integration deepens the club experience without adding operational burden. Players can enter competitions directly from their phones before they even step on court, track their standing on live leaderboards mid-match, and collect winnings or convert them to credits for future play, creating a loyalty loop that drives repeat visits and extends the time and money players spend per session.
"Padel is inherently social, and the players who find it never want to stop playing. Lucra gives us a way to reward that loyalty in real time, turning every visit into a reason to come back. Whether someone is competing for cash or just bragging rights, the experience becomes more meaningful the moment there's something at stake," said Hala Sarkis, co-founder and CEO of Epic Padel.
"Zero.40 was built to be the operating system for padel clubs in America, and Lucra fits naturally into that infrastructure. Every operator that white-labels Zero.40 now gets a best-in-class competition engine out of the box. That's a meaningful upgrade for the entire network, and it's the kind of value-add that makes Zero.40 a more compelling platform for operators to build on," said Kareem Anabtawi, co-founder and CIO of Epic Padel.
"From a technical standpoint, the Lucra integration was exactly what Zero.40 needed to complete the player experience. We handle the booking, the analytics, the community, and now Lucra handles the competition and rewards layer. Together the platform gives operators everything they need to keep players engaged from the moment they book a court to the moment they cash out their winnings," said Ali Hammadi, CTO of Zero.40.
The partnership also underscores Lucra's growing presence in racquet sports, following its recent collaboration with Save My Play across tennis and pickleball courts. By embedding competition infrastructure at the platform level through Zero.40 rather than requiring standalone integrations, Lucra gives operators across the network the ability to launch gamified experiences in weeks, not months, and keep the competitive energy inside their own ecosystem.
The partnership will roll out this spring across all Epic Padel locations. As Zero.40 expands its operator network, Lucra's competition infrastructure will be available at every new venue it powers, extending the partnership's reach with each new club that comes online.
About Lucra
Lucra is a plug-and-play SDK that integrates into apps or websites, enabling peer-to-peer competitions with real-money or rewards. It handles compliance, payments, fraud prevention, and settlement out of the box, so partners can instantly offer gamified experiences without building or managing complex infrastructure themselves. Top entertainment, hospitality, and consumer brands, including Five Iron Golf, Puttshack, Backyard Sports, Chess Kings, TouchTunes, and more, use Lucra's white-label technology to power tournaments and challenges, build loyalty, and drive new revenue. Learn more at www.lucrasports.com.
About Epic Padel
Epic Padel is a Virginia-based Padel Club Operator, Padel Investor & Incubator dedicated to accelerating the growth of padel across the United States. Backed by a $10 million seed round led by NowaisWorld and Stryde Ventures, Epic Padel combines premium club operations with an investment and incubation platform supporting the next wave of padel innovation. The company also incubated Zero.40, a fully integrated padel member app that combines smart court booking, player analytics, ratings, and community engagement, and white-labels its platform to padel operators across the country. With a national expansion underway and a growing network of club and operator partners, Epic Padel is building the infrastructure for padel's American moment. Learn more at www.epic-padel.com.
Media Contact
Michael Madding
Chief Operating Officer, Lucra
michael@lucrasports.com
