{"id":186005,"date":"2021-09-16T17:13:16","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T00:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=186005"},"modified":"2021-09-17T09:06:55","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T16:06:55","slug":"casino-dania-beach-jettisons-jai-alai-americas-most-endangered-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/casino-dania-beach-jettisons-jai-alai-americas-most-endangered-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"Casino @ Dania Beach Jettisons Jai Alai, America’s Most Endangered Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of just four remaining professional jai alai<\/a> frontons in the US announced Wednesday it will close. The Casino @ Dania beach in Miami has hosted jai alai games for 69 years. But it won\u2019t make 70.<\/p>\n

\"jai
Jai alai, pictured, has a reputation as one of the world\u2019s fastest and most dangerous sports. But its days could be numbered in the US. (Image: WBUR<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On November 28, players will hurl their final balls at the front wall before permanently packing up their cestas<\/em>, the long, curved baskets they wield when catching and throwing.<\/p>\n

According to The Sun-Sentinel<\/em>, owner Dania Entertainment is negotiating a buyout of the remaining four months of its 26 professional players\u2019 contracts, which were due to expire in May 2022.<\/p>\n

High-Speed Gambling Game<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jai alai\u2019s origins lie in Spain\u2019s Basque country. But beyond that region, it\u2019s little-known outside of the US, Latin America, and the Philippines. The sport is like racquetball but incorporates high-speed acrobatic catches and throws.<\/p>\n

It was once hugely popular with gamblers in Florida and parts of the northeast, such as Connecticut and Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

In its heyday in the 1970s, Dania Beach could regularly attract crowds of 7,000 to 10,000. But the game\u2019s popularity has dwindled significantly as more varied opportunities to gamble became available.<\/p>\n

\n

Jai alai has become extinct in the northeast over the past decade. But the game was kept alive in Florida by a law that, until recently, required the state\u2019s pari-mutuel venues to offer a quota of either jai alai, live horse racing, or dog racing as a condition of their legal right to host more lucrative gambling games.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But these events are expensive to stage, and their fall out of fashion means they are often subsidized by a venue’s other gaming operations.<\/p>\n

Existential Threat<\/strong><\/h2>\n

An agreement<\/a> negotiated between the Florida legislature and the Seminole tribal casino operator earlier this year allowed pari-mutuels to \u201cdecouple\u201d their main gaming operations from these less-profitable attractions.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, greyhound racing was phased out at the end of last year after Florida residents voted to ban the sport<\/a> in a public referendum.<\/p>\n

So, could jai alai be going to the dogs, too?<\/p>\n

With Dania Beach out of the picture, that leaves just three professional jai alai frontons in the United States, all in Florida: Magic City Casino, Casino Miami, and Calder Casino in Miami Gardens.<\/strong><\/p>\n

All have wrapped up their most recent seasons, and Inigo Gorostola, VP of the International Jai Alai Players-Association, told the Sun-Sentinel<\/em> there\u2019s no guarantee they will continue to offer live games now that they are no longer obligated to do so by law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of just four remaining professional jai alai frontons in the US announced Wednesday it will close. The Casino @ Dania beach in Miami has hosted jai alai games for 69 years. But it won\u2019t make 70. On November 28, players will hurl their final balls at the front wall before permanently packing up their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":186006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDania Beach Jettisons Jai Alai, America's Most Endangered Sport<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jai alai in Dania Beach, Florida to close after 69 years, leaving just a handful of frontons in America. 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