Dania jai-alai will reopen on Thursday, October 1st with reduced seating capacity and a 10-game performance. The fronton, which has been open for over 60 years, was forced to shut down in mid-March because of the Corona virus. As we posted in a an earlier photo, you can see two rows of seats completely covered, with additional seats removed from the back row. The seating capacity will now be 75 people in the 400 seat fronton. Additional self-betting terminals have been set up to further maintain the 6 foot social distancing rules.
There will be 10-game performances – with 4 singles and 6 doubles.
As of now, about 10 players with visa’s are all waiting for their passports and flights. A few of the players will likely make it for opening day, while others will be arriving the following week.
All practicing players are ready to go. Those include stars like Erik, Zulaica, Arrieta, Ibon, Amigorena and others.
Magic City Jai-alai appeared on the Fox Miami/Ft. Lauderdale affiliate Channel 7 on Sunday afternoon, giving the sport much-needed publicity. The one hour event featured a doubles dual that featured four teams –
Anderluck/Kubala
Carballo/Ben
Douglas/Jeden
RonRon/Tennessee
Carballo/Ben beat Anderluck/Kubala
Douglas/Jeden beat RonRon/Tennessee
Douglas/Jeden beat Carballo/Ben 10-8 in the Final.
Enjoy the video and photos with special thanks to George Quinn for supplying the information.
Dania Jai-alai is getting ready to reopen for the first time since the pandemic became a global issue in March.
As you can see from the photo, social separation is underway, with two rows of seating getting covered in the 500 seat fronton. Dania intends on having live audiences when the reopen in the next couple of weeks or so. It also appears to be undergoing some “major” floor repairs on the out of bounds area on the cancha.
Magic City Jai-alai will be on WSVN-TV Channel 7 this Sunday afternoon at 2pm. The program will show their Doubles II Duel Event. The FOX channel serves the Ft. Lauderdale-Miami area but is also available online through TV Access by OneLaunch.
Be sure to check out this exciting event, a landmark for the jai-alai industry to say the least. The show will run up against NFL Football and the Miami Dolphin vs. Buffalo Bills game which starts at 1pm and even Magic City’s live performance starting at 12 noon that day.
The Golden Cesta Award competition came down to the wire. The amazing Douglas edged out RonRon with 11-wins in his 28-singles game appearances while RonRon had 10-wins. Congratulations Douglas! The next most singles wins was a tie for 5-wins between El Barba and Jeden. Juice was the only player to not get a win for the week (record 21-0-0-4 for week). We know Juice is capable of better so watch out this week! We might even get to see a back-flip Week 20? Diaz and Bradley only had 1-win each so watch out for them too!
Since the start of the 2019 season, Douglas holds the most Golden Cesta Award titles with 18. Douglas now has 5 in 2020 (5 of the last 7-weeks) and had 13 in 2019 including an incredible 10-weeks in a row. Click here for SayHiLi’s Golden Cesta Summary.
Here is an update on the 2020 Singles Championship where the winner gets $15k, $10k for 2nd and $5k for 3rd. Douglas leads with 117-wins and RonRon is 2nd with 95-wins. Third place is a tight competition with 9-players in contention right now ranging from 67-wins to 43-wins. Bueno is currently in 3rd with 67-wins, Ben has 61, Tennessee has 55, Ikeda has 54 (missed many weeks of competition or would likely be third). Ten other players have 25-wins or less and need to shift into another gear to get into contention. Click here for SayHiLi’s 2020 Singles Championship Summary.
Week 19 was practically another scratch-less week with scratch-free being the best scenario for Magic City bettors needing to advance wager. The only scratch was Carballo and this was only for the Thursday noon performance, the first performance of the week. Previously, Week 18 was a completely scratch-free week. Kudos to Magic City players for this great accomplishment in these tough times!
Here are some stats for Week 19 broken down by game-type:
Singles Games 1-4 El Barba and Jeden had the most wins with 5-each. The best win percentages were Anderluck (42.9%, 7-3-0-1, these were all game 4 with tougher competition but no Douglas/RonRon). El Barba had 23.8% wins and Jeden had 17.9% wins. The best ITM for these games was Bueno with 59.1% (22-3-8-2) and then 3-others at 57.1% (Anderluck, El Barba, Ikeda). Note Ikeda’s stats were all in game 4 (7-1-2-1).
Singles Games 5,6,8,9 Douglas had 39.3% wins and 78.6% ITM (28-11-6-5) while RonRon had 35.7% wins and 67.9% ITM (28-10-8-1). Carballo was third best with 8.3% and 33.3% ITM (24-2-2-4). Bradley was shut-out completely with 14-0-0-0 and Bueno was shut-out of the win-place with (21-0-0-6). Just wondering what the Amazing Fake Kreskin of Jai-alai (Chalk Talk poster donzi621) gonna say next after his recent Carballo trash-talking stunt (guess Carballo showed him, LOL). Donzi, please, enough…..everyone has slumps in Jai-alai and it’s real obvious to fans of the game you don’t know crap and talk smack. Even Dania’s Erik has slumps and has been completely out of the $$ for 4 and 5 consecutive performances at times. Donzi, please strap on a cesta and go on a court with Carballo (remember to put on the helmet).
Here are some full 2020 season stats broken down by early, mid, and late game types. Note the games for these have varied some in the Magic City entries, but this data is adjusted for that impact, so you won’t see these stats in your program.
True Early Games (like Week 20 games 1-3 ):
Bradley is leading with 28.6% wins, however, its a low sample of only 49-games (Bradley: 49-14-5-3).
Ben is second with 27.6% wins (134-37-17-19), Bueno is 3rd with 21.8% and the ITM leader at 59.1% (110-24-28-13), Jeden is a very close 4th at 21.5% (158-34-14-24). Juice, Limonte and Fred in that order are the low win percents (6.3, 4.3, 4.1).
Mid-Games (like Week 20 games 4 & 5), from one to three of the top 5-players, the top 5 (not in order) being Carballo, Douglas, Ikeda, Kubala, RonRon (but be sure to note that Anderluck is rising in the ranks with some great recent play so BBB, meaning bettors better beware).
Obviously Douglas & RonRon are strongest here when they have been in “mid-games.” Douglas has limited games here (some after being out of action for weeks) and RonRon started here when he arrived after the season start and hadn’t played/practiced for many months (Douglas: 33-16-4-3 and RonRon: 98-41-16-14). The real question is who follows these top 2 and in what order. Here’s the scoop for the full 2020 season on this:
Ikeda with 27.2% wins and 63.8% ITM (94-26-25-9)
Kubala with 19.2% wins and 49.6% ITM (125-24-17-21)
Carballo with 17.0% wins and 60.6% ITM (94-16-29-12)
Anderluck with 16.4% wins and 43.2% ITM (146-24-18-21)
Bueno with 15.9% wins and 42.7% ITM (232-37-36-26)
Some noteworthy stats for these mid-games for low-performers with 40+ games are: CRB 3.6% wins and 13.3% ITM (83-3-3-5), Juice 2.1% wins and 14.6 ITM (48-1-3-3), Legend 1.4% wins and 10.8% ITM (74-1-2-5).
Late-Games (like Week 20 games 6, 8 and 9). These are games with 4 or 5 of the top 5-players (the 5 mentioned above) and include 7 and 9-point games. These stats include 11-players with 40+ games played and are ranked from highest win percent to lowest win percent (there are 4-other players that have participated in these type of games, but only played in 7-games or less, so not including them due to the very low sample size).
As the best handicappers of the Jai-alai game know, one also needs to assess and include the impact of recent performance, so beware of relying totally on a player’s season performance stats. I could provide more stats, like the recent doubles games, however, I can’t spoon-feed all of the scoop to make this too easy for you, lol. I want to leave something for you to assess in your quest of competing with other bettors. Plus, the next doubles tournament should be starting soon.
Good luck to the players and bettors for Week 20 of Magic City Jai-Alai’s action-packed short-court Jai-Alai action! Thanks to Magic City players, announcers, support staff, and especially “Savvy Savin” for bringing us a GREAT ENTERTAINMENT OPTION in these tough times of a world-wide pandemic and offering Jai-Alai fans this option since May 1st of this year, TRULY AMAZING! Remember no more Saturday 8-pm performances, so no more date-night with Jai-Alai, dern. Stay tuned to SayHiLi.com for scratches and more interesting Magic City statistics and information.
A note to Jai-Alai fans, it’s difficult enough for Susie and myself to maintain the SayHiLi.com website for Magic City in our spare time, so we will only be focusing on Magic City Jai-Alai when competitor Dania Jai-Alai opens.
Last, but certainly not least, the Jai-Alai week for Magic City Jai-Alai Week 19 started out with a sad announcement by Stu Neiman about the loss of a good friend of his due to covid-19. Eugene McFeeley was a Magic City Jai-Alai fan and watched on the Jai-Alai Channel. He passed from covid-19 at Jacksonville Memorial’s ICU on Tuesday, September 8th. He was a Navy medic and had worked on the USS Forrestal Carrier and later became a psychiatric nurse. Thanks to this veteran for his honorable service to our country! Take a moment to say a prayer for Eugene and his wife Neva. Stu, we are sorry for the loss of your good friend.
America’s first and only public jai-alai court is about to get some massive renovations. The St. Petersburg, Florida jai-alai court opened to the public in 2008 as the first accomplishment done by the NJAA. However, the cancha was criticized by some as not being large enough. A real pro court is usually at least 175 feet long, with 40-45 foot high walls and a width about the same. But nobody will build a court that big, as courts need to be sized to the ball being used. The pro courts, like the one at Dania, has a front wall made out of granite of about 18” which is required to withstand the pelota being used. The real jai-alai ball has a core that consists of Brazilian virgin de pola rubber, then layered with nylon and finally is hand-stitched with two goat skin covers. It is the hardest ball of any sport. A court today would likely cost upwards of $1.5 million alone.
Most amateur courts are in the 30-meter range, with the N. Miami, Berlin Connecticut and under construction J Laca Court all around that size. Two balls are basically used by all amateurs – the hard white plastic ball, and the “Matt” ball.
Currently, the Puryear Park court in St. Pete is only 83.5 foot long, with a front wall 16 feet high, a side wall of 14-foot, and a back wall of just 10-foot. About 18 months ago, the NJAA, lead by Paul Kubala, Eric Lanctot and Scott King, submitted plans drawn by fellow player Anthony Sutton of Point West Engineering for improvements to the St. Pete cancha. On Monday, word got out that a Purchase Order has been issued with someone from the City of St. Petersburg on the court checking it out.
The massive improvements include knocking down the front wall along with all the fencing and netting that separates the main court from the 3 mini-courts. Beyond the front wall are three additional walls which were originally used as racquetball/tennis practice courts but have been officially part of the jai-alai complex since 2007. By knocking down the front wall, the goal is to extend the court an additional 20 feet or so by using the next wall. About 20 feet separate the each of the three mini-courts. Of course, with the longer court, the walls will need to go higher. The plans now call for extending the height of the front wall from 16-feet to 20-feet. The side wall would be extended another 6-feet to 20-foot tall while keeping the “Scott King” 4-foot extension wall at the top. The back wall would gain 6 feet to go from 10-foot to a 16-foot high wall. The court length will increase to about 103 feet long. The walls width will be enlarged also. Currently they are only 20 feet wide, while the court is actually 24 feet wide. The walls will get an extra 4 feet in width, matching them with the 24 foot wide court.
This new court will be close in size to the J Laca Court, now under construction on the other side of Pinellas county in Seminole Florida, and slightly smaller than the Matt court in Connecticut. The improvements are dramatic and will make the playing experience an entirely new experience.
Funds for the project will be paid from the jai-alai court’s existing Weekie Wachie account which was set up in late 2007 to cover maintenance and improvements to the cancha. A courthouse video of this approval can be viewed in the NJAA section of this website. The Weekie Wachie Fund is earmarked for projects similar to the this. Over the years, the NJAA has supplied almost all of the labor keeping the court safe to players and spectators. The original court was paid with private funds donated by the NJAA.
We will keep you posted as more details are available.
Click Picture Below to see Plans submitted to city by Anthony (Point West Engineering).
Another rumor just starting to wind its way through the Jai-Alai underworld and perhaps a real whopper, or who knows, maybe a reality? Here it is: Installing a glass-panel back wall like Magic City Jai-Alai to shorten the court to 120’ which will allow an extra 50+ feet plus of room for adequate player social distancing behind the glass wall along with relocating the announcing area and video equipment.
Actually this rumor makes a lot of sense and could be a genuine cost-cutting measure that might perhaps extend the life of Dania Jai-Alai for years to come? Thinking about this one, the expense of the back wall change would be pretty minimal and could happen relatively quickly. Also, the higher ceiling height than Magic City could make for some pretty intensive short-court Jai-Alai action? If this rumor turns out to be reality, a short-court National Jai-Alai Championship could get really competitive and be a blast!
Haven’t heard much for details on this rumor, whether it’s for near term or a modification for last half of December or down the road. Source on this one has adamantly insisted that “mum is the word” which is the rumor mill standard, LOL. Only time will tell…..I have my doubts on this one. This would involve Magic City type balls and cestas too, but who knows, this whole rumored concept with a reduced roster size (attrition/visas being a factor I would imagine, some players would likely say “no” and play in Spain/Europe) would definitely be a cost saving measure. One thing for sure, Dania rumors are a dime a dozen right now…..
Maybe soon we will find out what is really going on? Let’s hope so!
You are a seasoned gambler, and you just hit a trifecta on horses with long odds, or perhaps a tough Jai Alai number. While you are anxiously waiting for your payoff price to come up, you are thinking, what’s this going to pay? Who doesn’t? It’s a good one, you know that, so your mind wanders, $700, $800, maybe more? Up goes the price. Bingo, a pretty good hit, but perhaps less than you were hoping for, but you’ll take it!
Most all gamblers engaging in pari mutuel wagering events understand there is a degree of randomness in the payoffs. Sometimes we get lucky, and get a better payoff than we expected, and sometimes we may get less than expected. However, suppose you got less than you expect because you were cheated?
Back some years ago, a good friend and business associate of mine, and a top notch
programmer/analyst, was working for the CT Division of Special Revenue when he was unexpectedly assigned to travel to Florida. His mission was to discuss with Florida gaming officials how the pari mutual system used at Calder race track had been violated. You see, at the time, the same system was being used at Hartford Jai Alai, and regulators here were concerned.
Whether this scam was accomplished by a manual machine manipulation, or via malware, was never revealed, however, this is what had happened there – Once the winning order of horses was determined, a method was employed that flip flopped the dollar amounts sold on the winning trifecta with a larger, and presumably reasonable dollar amount from another combination. For example, let’s assume a net trifecta pool of $10,000, and the actual amount wagered on the winning combination was $25. If so, you would have a $2 winning ticket worth $800. Now suppose that $25 amount got flip flopped with another number’s amount that had $31. If so, now your winning $2 ticket has a payoff of $645! All the pool money adds up, with the only thing missing being the 3 tickets never issued. Oh, and the -$155 YOU lost on your winning $2 ticket! The group involved in this scam had access to the necessary equipment to produce the missing tickets and would later cash them at the outsbook, using a number of different people to do so.
Are you wondering how this scam got discovered? Maybe you are thinking the track’s computer audit trail discovered it, or perhaps a physical audit? Nope. What happened was
one of the participants, unsatisfied with his share, and possibly a bit scared of discovery, turned the other crooks in, most likely making his own deal.
No one knows how long this went on for, but you can be assured many thousands of dollars, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even more, were taken from the hands of honest, and unsuspecting, players. Maybe your dollars!
Gambling isn’t church, so always be aware. It’s a certainty that someone is out there trying to figure how to make an easy buck. If you do see something unusual pay close attention. If it happens again, and you can’t explain it, then report it to the proper authorities. A legitimate pari mutual event is already tough enough to win at.
PS – I am unaware of any publicity regarding this event, but not surprised by that, as most all gambling venues take great pains to avoid any negative publicity.
At the close of Dania’s 2014 Winter Season, one of Dania’s finest Frontcourters to ever grace the former “Palace’s” cancha bid adieu. Adoni Echaniz, known to jai-alai aficionados as Arriaga, walked into the sunset with his shadow illuminating the image of a pelotari hanging up his cesta for the last time. An all-time legend of the pulchritudinous Merry Festival, #24 had a Dania- career comparable to America’s best-ever Joey and ‘70’s and ‘80’s star, Juaristi. Arriving at Dania, having just captured Most Wins titles at Newport and Bridgeport in 1994 and 1995 respectfully, Arriaga made an immediate impact during his rookie campaign, the 1995 Summer Season, capturing the Campeonato. Great court sense, an exceptional right side, quick feet, and an aura of unmatched confidence were qualities possessed which enabled and led to one of the most stellar careers witnessed in Dania Jai-Alai’s history. The 6’0” 195- pounder amassed four Most Wins titles, thirteen Singles Championships, six Frontcourt Doubles Championships, four Campeonato titles, four Triple Crowns and three Grand Slams. Arriaga’s thirteen Singles Championship is a Dania record and bests Joey by three such titles. Along with his in-house titles, Arriaga, the Markina, Spain native had great success representing Dania in tournaments, especially the annual Citrus Invitational at Orlando Jai-Alai, capturing the Double Championship twice, once with Felix in ’96 and with J. Arriaga in ’04; Citrus Singles Championships were captured in ’96, ’98, and 2001. The long list of awards and accolades might have been more so if not for December 14 th in 2001. Dania’s superstar Frontcourter suffered a career threatening injury during the last game of the Sunday Matinee. As many remember, Arriaga was struck in the cheek by an errant rebote. As one of the game’s top performers, he had graced the pages of “Cigar Aficionado” in a feature story just nine months prior. In the March/April 2000 edition, the reader only needs to read one quote, “My goal is to be the best in the world, nothing less.” The excessive force of the lethal pelota caused two facial fractures, one to an orbital bone. The injury brought back immediate thought to former Dania Players’ Manager, Fernando Orbea, who in 1968, while considered the world’s top pelotari at the times, was struck in the head while playing in Spain. Orbea returned to play, however he was never the same; his injury led to the requirement of all players wearing helmets. Amazingly, Arriaga overcame not just the physical, but the mental battle to return to an elite-level of play in short fashion evidenced by his three Triple Crowns and three Campeonatos following and continued to be a feature-game player for an astounding thirteen more years. At the time of his retirement, Daniel Love, arguably the best Backcourter in the world during the height of his playing days at Miami Jai-Alai and in Mexico, considered Amercia’s best-ever in the backcourt, summed up Arriaga’s career with the following…”A player like Arriaga only comes into the sport of jai-alai every so often.” Love continued, “For those who were fortunate enough to watch Arriaga play, they witnessed a true professional who exhibited domination over his career.” Arriaga is joined by only Joey as having their respective #24 and #37 jersey numbers retired at Dania. High Cesta to One of Dania’s Finest! Arriaga and Joey for sure are in my Top 5 Frontcourters viewed in person along with Miami’s Michelena – “The King”, and Arra – “J.R.”. Number 5? Many to consider.
Looking forward along with so many others to the return of The World’s Fastest Game on the Dania cancha sooner than later.
Here is an update to the story on FOX Sports covering a special Magic City tournament. From what we understand, the event will be shown on Fox Sports – but only on the Miami affiliate station. The show will run for one hour over an 8-week period this fall instead of college football. Magic City has a singles tournament and a doubles tournament planned for the duration of the telecast. While not nationally broadcast, this is still great news and publicity for a sport that has never seen such coverage in American history. Millions of cable customers in the Miami area will have an opportunity to see it. The Fox Sports Network airs in the entire state and southern Georgia, so there must be a local Fox Sports Network in Miami that it is airing on. In the Tampa Bay area, Spectrum Cable airs the Fox Sports Network (which carries the Marlins) and Fox Sports Sun (which carries the Rays baseball games).
The tournaments will include an 8 player singles game to 20 straight points and a 6 team doubles tournament. A $1,000 prize will go to the singles winner, with $2,000 to the doubles winner.
The announcers will remain the regular crew of Stu and Andrew, which is great news because they do an excellent job explaining the game. It will be a little different on these broadcasts with the terminology more in the lines of a “tennis vocabulary” however. This will be great exposure for the sport and hope there is an opportunity for those not living in the Miami area to see it. Perhaps on the Jai-alai Channel too?
