Who actually owns professional bowling, and what did they pay for it? For seven years the answer was three words repeated in every article written on it: terms not disclosed. They were disclosed. The number was sitting in a public SEC filing the whole time.
Lucky Strike Entertainment, formerly Bowlero and before that Bowlmor AMF, trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker LUCK and runs 365 locations. The thing almost nobody understands about it is that it is not really in the bowling business. It is in the real estate business.
The company sold the land under 38 of its centers to VICI Properties for $432.9 million and rented it right back, booking the money not as a sale but as a financing obligation. And on September 9, 2019, it bought the entire Professional Bowlers Association for $8,438,000 in cash.
Chapters
- 0:00 Two Guys Argue Over Who Owns the PBA
- 1:35 The Bet: He Studied AMF, Then Bought It
- 4:54 Recoupment: The Trap With a Name
- 5:55 The VICI Deal That Wasn’t a Sale
- 9:42 They Sold the Ground to Buy the Stock
- 11:20 What the Debt Did to the Company
- 14:07 $23,969 a Year to Run the Room
- 17:06 The $8,438,000 Nobody Reported
- 20:30 An Infomercial Filed With the SEC
- 22:48 Who Owns Lucky Strike Today
Sources
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1840572/000184057225000012/bowl-20250629.htm
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1840572/000162828024039546/bowl-20240630.htm
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1840572/000121390021059483/fs42021a5_isosacq.htm
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1840572/000114036122039124/ny20005266x1_def14a.htm
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1840572/000162828026030914/bowl-20260329.htm
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1840572/000110465925102144/tm2525902-1_def14a.htm
- https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.362554/gov.uscourts.wawd.362554.1.0_1.pdf
Watch the full documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPpPL6VP07c