Lucra, the leading social competition platform, today announced a partnership with UPSHOT League, a new professional women's basketball league where rising talent UPlifts entire communities. The UPSHOT League will launch in four cities —Jacksonville, Savannah, Greensboro, and Charlotte — with opening day on May 15, 2026. Through this collaboration, Lucra will power an innovative free-to-play prediction system that transforms how fans engage with women's basketball, turning every game into an interactive experience where spectators can win exclusive rewards.
This partnership marks Lucra's expansion into fan engagement, focusing on professional sports teams and leagues and demonstrating the versatility of its white-label technology beyond venue-based and app-embedded integrations. By creating a spectator-focused product for UPSHOT League, Lucra is helping to build passionate, engaged fan communities around emerging sports properties from day one.
UPSHOT League's founding belief is that everyone deserves to take their best shot. It is a league of opportunity for elite women’s basketball athletes, coaches, front office personnel and communities who are able to have new exceptional fan experiences and connect with amazing women athletes. By integrating Lucra's gamification engine, the league will offer fans a deeper connection to the action on the court, with the ability to make game predictions and compete for valuable rewards throughout the season. This partnership also provides UPSHOT league with an exciting new revenue stream, allowing sponsors to have a much more tangible touchpoint with its fans.
The free-to-play prediction system will allow fans to pick winning teams and top scoring players before each game, earning rewards for accurate predictions that can be redeemed for exclusive prizes. This approach removes financial barriers while creating meaningful engagement opportunities that keep fans invested in every game, regardless of which teams are playing.
"UPSHOT League is building something important — a community driven and focused pathway for women's basketball players who deserve more opportunities to compete professionally," said Dylan Robbins, CEO of Lucra. "By adding our fan engagement layer, we're helping them create an active, passionate fanbase from day one. Free-to-play predictions create natural touchpoints throughout the season that keep fans coming back and deepen their connection to the league and its players."
For UPSHOT League, the partnership provides a turnkey solution to drive fan engagement and retention while creating new sponsorship and partnership opportunities through the rewards program. The integration requires no engineering lift from the league, allowing them to focus on basketball operations while Lucra handles all technical implementation, compliance, and reward fulfillment.
“Lucra is building something truly special at the intersection of sports, technology, and fan engagement. The momentum behind the platform reflects both the strength of the product and the passion of its community," said Donna Orender, commissioner and co-founder of UPSHOT League. “At UPSHOT, we are focused on a great fan experience and this partnership contributes to our overall strategy of community engagement.”
Key features of the integration will include:
- Free-to-play game predictions
- Rewards program featuring branded merchandise and exclusive experiences
- Leaderboards tracking top predictors throughout the season
- Social features enabling fans to compete against friends and community members
- Full technical infrastructure and compliance managed by Lucra
The integration will launch alongside UPSHOT League's inaugural season in May 2026, with expanded features and rewards rolling out as the league grows.
About Lucra
At Lucra, we use competitive play to build brand loyalty. Our white-label platform allows clients to host competitions, create personalized challenges, and provide users’ rewards. Doing so helps to drive visitation, increase engagement, and add more revenue per customer. We handle all payments, compliance, and risk management, allowing clients to quickly implement our solution into their existing app or website. Lucra powers gamification for top entertainment, hospitality, and consumer brands, including Five Iron Golf, Backyard Sports, Puttshack, TouchTunes, Hollywood.com, and more. For more information, visit www.lucrasports.com.
About UPSHOT League
UPSHOT League is a professional women's basketball league launching in May 2026 with a mission to provide a meaningful developmental pathway for athletes pursuing professional basketball careers. Through competitive play, player development programs, and innovative fan engagement, UPSHOT League is creating new opportunities in women's basketball while building an accessible, exciting product for fans. Learn more at upshotleague.com.
Media Contact
Michael Madding
Chief Operating Officer, Lucra
michael@lucrasports.com
