Arcade giant Dave & Buster’s (NASDAQ:PLAY) shares were fairly flat Tuesday on word the restaurant chain is taking its games to a new level by offering social wagering on its app.
Customers can soon make a friendly $5 wager on a Hot Shots basketball game, a bet on a Skee-Ball competition or on another arcade game. The betting function, expected to launch in the next few months, will work through the company’s app.
Dave & Buster’s, started in 1982, now has more than 222 venues in North America, offering everything from bowling to laser tag, plus virtual reality. The company says it has five million loyalty members and 30 million unique visitors to its locations each year. The company’s stock is up more than 50% over the past year.
As a boom in betting increases engagement among sports fans, digital gamification could have a similar effect within Dave & Buster’s customer base by allowing loyalty members to compete with one another and earn rewards. Ultimately, it could mean people spend more time and money at the venues.
Dave and Buster’s is using technology by gamification software company Lucra.
Lucra, created in 2019 by then-Stanford Graduate School of Business classmates Dylan Robbins and Michael Madding, is a software platform that allows users to compete for real money on friendly competitions.
Robbins and Madding previously worked together at Goldman Sachs.
PLAY shares fell six cents to $53.44.