Gambling used to be limited to casinos and Las Vegas, but over the half decade, it’s infiltrated our households.
It all started when, in 2018, the Supreme Court overturned a rule that banned sports betting from most states in the country. The result has been a proliferation of sports betting applications that are accessible with the click of a button.
That’s not say that betting on sports hasn’t been done outside of households for a long time. It’s just been done illegally — and the legalization has opened up regulation. That’s exactly what NBA Commissioner Adam Silver gave as his main reason for supporting legal sports betting amid the sports betting issue that led to a lifetime ban of former NBA player Jontay Porter.
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But the legalization of gambling has made it a fixture in the lives of Americans. Ads for sportsbooks play on television and online ad nauseam and normalize the behavior of betting — and betting from anywhere.
The growing reality of America leads to this latest move by Dave & Buster’s (PLAY) . The restaurant and arcade company is going to begin social wagering on its arcade games through its app, according to a report by CNBC.
Dave & Buster’s will allow customers aged 18 and over to place bets with one another using the app in the hopes of increasing customer engagement, spend, and time in-store, a model that mirrors the same benefits of sports betting for sports leagues.
The company, whose stock price is up 50% in the last year and nearly 800% since its pandemic-driven collapse in 2020, is partnering with software platform Lucra to bring to life the experiment that brings wagering to the arcades.
“This new partnership gives our loyalty members real-time, unrivaled gaming experiences, and reinforces our commitment to continuing to elevate our customer experience through innovative, cutting-edge technology,” Lucra co-founder Michael Madding said in the CNBC report.
The bet on wagering is a recognition of the sign of the times by Dave & Buster’s, and it could pay off as the sports betting industry is coming off a 2023 year that saw a 44.5% revenue increase from the previous year, according to the American Gaming Association.
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The company is hoping that formula will work to create more value across its 5 million loyalty members and 30 million unique visitors
“This new partnership gives our loyalty members real-time, unrivaled gaming experiences, and reinforces our commitment to continuing to elevate our customer experience through innovative, cutting-edge technology,” Dave & Buster’s senior vice president of entertainment and attractions Simon Murray told CNBC.
But for America at large — which has also seen a steep increase in gambling addiction since the 2018 rule change — the move brings wagering to even more social settings, and closer to the areas of exposure for the younger generation.
Related: The NCAA is making a strong appeal that will completely change sports gambling
