Archive for category: Jeff ‘Laca’ Conway Blogs

America’s first and only public jai-alai court is getting a makeover.  After major expansion work in late 2021 that brought the cancha close to regulation amateur sizing for international tournament play, a couple of wrinkles needed to be addressed.  The overhead protection screen, designed to protect wild throws from going into a soccer practice court adjacent to the cancha (and tennis courts further east of the court), was a few feet too low.  On top of that, the netting was sagging, getting into the play of action on throws that normally would land in play.   After 14 months of extensive playing, parts of the walls – both in the front and side were cracking apart.  The overhead black paneling above the front wall was not able to protect multiple balls from getting thrown up and stuck on top of the 8” wide front wall.  A tall ladder is needed to retrieve the “lost” Matt balls, often getting left up there for days till someone has the balls to go up there.       

The entire screen area has been raised by about 4 feet, with the right side the most critically needed.  The walls have been patched; with new thick black padding added along the entire right side just outside of the front wall.  Work has also been done to the metal chopa and the paneling below it.

The next phase will include work on the rear sunshades, to help players better see the ball attempting to make rebotes coming and blinded by the sunset, usually right behind the back wall facing the west.

The goal is to ultimately raise the center cable to 8 feet above the walls, doubling the amount it is now after the first phase.         

Then finally, the “makeup” gets put on the cancha. The unsightly white effervescence, “leaking” from the cinder blocks that were added to the court on its expansion work in late 2021, will be cleaned up and then the walls all getting a fresh coat of green paint.        

A fundraiser by Belota last summer along with construction work run by NJAA/Sunshine League contractors Scott King and Eric Lanctot were able to pull this project off.  Puryear Park jai-alai founder Paul Kubala was director of the project.  And a special thanks to all those that donated their time on the 3-day project that was competed over the previous weekend. 

Following a two-month delay, West Flagler Associates (owners of Magic City Casino) has gained “conditional approval” of the sale their casino in what is being considering the biggest casino deal in the state of Florida’s history.

The sale, estimated to be around $600 million dollars in cash*, would turn over operations to PCI Gaming, which is owned and operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.  They would have control of the slot machines, electronic casino games and poker, but would have no effect on Magic City Jai-alai which will continue to operate as normal.

The Havenick family has owned the lucrative property for decades which for most of the time was known as Flagler Dog Track.  Today, it is the highest grossing “racino”, or former pari-mutual venue in the state of Florida that is allowed to operate slot machines and poker.      

The CEO and President of Wind Creek Hospitality, Jay Dorris, said there is big plans coming to the property.  The closed dog track, comprised of 30 acres of property unused, would likely become a huge luxury casino and entertainment resort.  Plans like this sound like something on the line with the Hard Rock but without live blackjack and other card games and could make the casino even more profitable than it is now.  There would be nothing like it in Miami, especially with no further casino expansion expected, especially from some powerful gaming companies like The Genting Group from Asia.   

All the current employees of Magic City Casino will continue employment, except senior executives like Scott Savin, who will continue to run the jai-alai portion of it.  They could also investigate opening that jai-alai and poker facility in the Edgewater neighborhood (near downtown Miami) that they had gained approval on a couple years ago.    

For us jai-alai fans, this is great news.  Magic City jai-alai would have the potential to reach many more people (if they open their doors more often to the public) at that site or investigate building a new court in Edgewater in a nice location while operating poker at the same time.  West Flagler would also have control of the Bonita Springs Poker room, which is between Ft. Myers and Naples.  A dog track operated on that site for decades also. 

Two months ago, the sale of the casino was put on hold by the Florida Gaming Control Commission, the nearly formed entity that was part of the Governor Ron DeSantis’ “gambling package” that included jai-alai decoupling and sports betting to be exclusively run by the Seminole Tribe.  Ironically, the West Flagler group successfully sued and had the sports betting deal halted after a 40-day run.  The decision is now under an appeal before a three-person circuit appeals panel, and a split vote, expected to go either way, should be coming sometime in the next few months.   It is not known what will happen if the appeal is upheld or overruled and if West Flagler would be involved anymore.           

According to the Windcreek website, the new owners are adding properties “faster than you can spin a roulette wheel”.   They are no strangers to Florida and parimutuel wagering, as they do own the Pensacola Greyhound Park.  They own several casinos in the United States and the Caribbean.    

Sounds like a win-win situation for everybody involved including the new casino owners with their plans on the dog track location, the Havenick family ($600 million!!*) and our jai-alai visionary guys like Scott Savin and Stu.          

*Not disclosed but the figure has been estimated by “industry experts.”

“Magic” Matt DiDomizio has changed the dates of his upcoming jai-alai tournament this spring in Berlin, Connecticut.

The event has been postponed two weeks till the end of April – the 28-30^th, again on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  The reason for the change was that several players would not have been able to make it that mid-April weekend, which was reported here on the Pelota Press a couple weeks ago.  It was also changed to coincide with his 13^th anniversary date.  If you recall, last years event was held on basically the same dates.

The change was made as a few players from the Tampa Bay area were getting to book their flights, and already they have booked their flights for the new dates were finalized this Friday morning.        

The weather should be a little nicer and the dogwoods should just starting to bloom around that time.

Matt Extravaganza Jai-alai Tournament April 28, 29. 30, 2023

Friday, April 14^th – 6:30pm

Spec 9 version of jai-alai – all played in Singles Games – Special Edition

$10 Spectator Fee for non-players

Saturday, April 15^th – 10am

Doubles Day tournament

Handicapped Teams by Matts pickings

Partido’s to 9 points to determine playoff brackets

Sunday, April 16^th – 10am

Partido Challenge Day

Sign up your team.  Matt will match them up – OR –

Sign up 2 teams to make your own partido match

You only have to be there for your game

25-point Partido unless both teams agree to go to 21-point game

Kill shots allowed unless both teams agree to “no shots”

Fee Schedule

Play 1 Day –  $25

Play 2 or 3 Days –  $50

There will be a $100 insurance fee paid by April 1^st to Register.  The money is reimbursed when you play.     

Deadline to Register is April Fools Day.  No Late entries allowed. 

Contact Matt for full information regarding that matter and all other details. 

To clarify, on Saturday’s schedule, Matt will determine the teams to make it as fair as possible to all.  A weaker player will be chosen with a stronger player.  This is the reason for the strict rules on paying up front and to be fully committed.    

Berlin Connecticut will once again be the jai-alai capital of the world, with Matt DiDomizio staging a huge 3 day – all separate events of their own – tournament.  The event will take place April 14-16, 2023, just as the weather starts to warm up in the Nutmeg state.

Each tournament will play to its completion the same day.  Here is how it will work:

Extravaganza Jai-alai Tournament April 14-16, 2023

Friday, April 14^th – 6:30pm

Spec 9 version of jai-alai – all played in Singles Games – Special Edition

$10 Spectator Fee for non-players

Saturday, April 15^th – 10am

Doubles Day tournament

Handicapped Teams

Partido’s to 9 points to determine playoff brackets

Sunday, April 16^th – 10am

Partido Challenge Day

Sign up your team.  Matt will match them up – OR –

Sign up 2 teams to make your own partido match

You only have to be there for your game

25-point Partido unless both teams agree to go to 21-point game

Kill shots allowed unless both teams agree to “no shots”

Fee Schedule

Play 1 Day –  $25

Play 2 or 3 Days –  $50

There will be a $100 insurance fee paid by April 1^st to Register.  The money is reimbursed when you play.     

Deadline to Register is April Fools Day.  No Late entries allowed. 

Contact Matt for full information regarding that matter and all other details. 

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Yesterday on the Dania Jai-alai broadcast, Benny and Big Dave Lemmon discussed the St. Petersburg Cancha during their broadcast. 

You can check I out here.

Special thanks to George Quinn for sending it over to the Pelota Press.  I was watching the NFL playoffs on TV all day Sunday and missed it.  I also could have sworn I heard the announcer (who I had no idea was) close out Saturday nights performance as saying the next performance was this Wednesday.  Oh well, we all have bad nights, like Dave LaMott did on Friday night!  I’ll see you guy again this Thursday and Friday nights.  Been a real treat to watch the past 6 weeks and its almost coming to an end.  Benny has already mentioned about next year on the broadcasts, so one can assume it’s been a success like we predicted.  How ‘bout some marketing next year Dania?  Couple of billboards perhaps?  Even send out some email updates to your own data base on jai-alai would help. too.