As off-course golf entertainment outpaces the traditional game in popularity, a Las Vegas-based company is using patented AI technology to “meet the golfer where they are,” according to its co-founder Sameer Gupta.
Evenplay, previously known as Skill Money Games, launched in 2020 and is now bringing skill-based gaming to golf entertainment and practice simulators, allowing players to rack up rewards, build their skill index and win or lose money on challenges.
“We’ll be working with a variety of basically all of the golf-simulator companies and driving ranges, so that every time you step up, you don’t need to press any buttons,” Gupta said. “You’re getting points if you want to win money—you can try that—or you can just see yourself improve.”
Evenplay recently secured investment from EP Golf Ventures, a partnership between the PGA of America and Elysian Park Ventures, increasing the company’s fundraising total to more than $10 million, according to a January release.
Evenplay’s technology is already live in various venues across the country, including T-Squared in Manhattan, a Topgolf near Seattle and at the Evenplay office in Las Vegas, which Gupta described as a “Willy Wonka AI factory.”
He demonstrated the first part of Evenplay’s AI technology—player recognition—at the office, by stepping up to an indoor golf simulator and showing how the system automatically recognized him and populated his name.
“You can imagine being at Topgolf, and when you step into any bay it just immediately recognizes you,” Gupta said. “So that’s the first piece of the AI.”
The second piece, he said, is the challenges themselves. The technology in the golf simulator judges an individual’s skill and gives them fair and fun challenges to win points or earn money with each swing, Gupta said.
For example, if the challenge is to hit the ball a specific number of yards, a player could win money depending on how close she gets to that distance or if she sinks the ball.
The company’s technology is also a real-life demonstration of predictive analytics in AI, with its ability to anticipate how well any person will hit a golf ball after just a few shots. It’s unique because it allows players of varying skill levels to play against each other or against the house. It can be used solo, with friends or in tournaments, Gupta added.
“We don’t invent or develop the golf-simulator technology,” he said. “We make it more fun.”
Bryan O’Reilly, CEO and co-founder at Evenplay, who credits himself with bringing Topgolf to Las Vegas, said Evenplay’s technology levels the playing field between beginners and experts so that everyone—not just the best players—can have a shot at winning.
Evenplay is the first of its kind to create a gaming environment in which users are actively hitting or throwing a ball, O’Reilly said, and that technology has already been applied to golf and bowling—which Gupta said was “up next.”
It can ultimately be applied to all sports, O’Reilly said, by determining how good a player is and giving them a challenge that fits their profile.
“The magnitude of what we created out of Vegas is a brand new gaming vertical,” he said. “It’s never existed ever. So that’s why it’s so exciting. … We’re changing the playing field on what it means to bring gaming to the world.”
With Evenplay, players can virtually put in $1 and have a shot at winning $3 immediately, O’Reilly emphasized.
“Someone can actually win real money against the house on every shot or every swing,” he says.
The technology will allow a player to see how good they are with every shot, and Gupta said Evenplay is partnering with UNLV’s PGA University Program on a Catalyst Project to demonstrate how that reward system makes users more likely to practice and ultimately better at golf.
“It’s, really, behavior athletics,” Gupta said. “What gets people to do things, practice more and get better at something? So the notion here is that rewards does that. People don’t like practicing, but people like winning.”
Evenplay expands gaming outside of its traditional confines, and Gupta said it’s a great example of what can happen once gaming surpasses the stigmas that surround it.
“Whatever constraints we used to have as a gaming industry have largely been lifted,” he said. “And now it’s time for technology and new products to benefit from that change in the market.”
Evenplay is currently in field trials in New York, Denver, San Diego and Seattle, Gupta said, and will scale this year in venues like Topgolf and GOLFTEC, a leading training institute for the sport. The company also has major partnerships with other companies like Swing Suites to ultimately launch in countless commercial and home golf simulators, he said.
Both O’Reilly and Gupta emphasized that Evenplay is a Las Vegas-born-and-bred company, powered by Las Vegas locals and longtime veterans of the gaming industry.
“Being based in Vegas means a lot to us, and represents something in the industry,” Gupta said. “We benefit greatly from being here, not only based on the team, but based on the environment.”
Click HERE to subscribe for free to Vegas Inc’s BizClick newsletter. Stay up to date with the latest business news in Las Vegas sent directly to your inbox each Monday.
This story originally appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.