Jai Alai Facts
Jai Alai is a Basque or Spanish game played in a court with a ball and a wickerwork racket.
In European countries such as France and Spain and in the North American country of Mexico the game of jai-alai is popular; in some regions, the game is played in almost every town and city.
In the United States, jai-alai enjoyed some popularity as a gambling alternative to horse racing, greyhound racing and harness racing and remains popular in Florida, where the game is used as a basis for parimutuel gambling at six frontons throughout the State: Dania Beach, Miami, Ocala, Fort Pierce, Orlando and Hamilton.
By contrast, jai-alai's popularity in the north-eastern and western United States waned as other gambling options became available. Frontons in the Connecticut towns of Hartford and Milford permanently closed, while the fronton in Bridgeport was converted to a Greyhound race track. A fronton in Newport, Rhode Island has been converted to a general gaming facility.
Jai-alai enjoyed a brief and popular stint in Las Vegas, Nevada with the opening of a fronton at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino; however, by the early 1980s the fronton was losing money and was closed by MGM Grand owner Kirk Kerkorian.
In an effort to prevent the closure of frontons in Florida, the Florida State Legislature passed HB 1059, a bill that changed the rules regarding the operation and wagering of poker in a Pari-Mutuel facility such as a jai-alai fronton and a greyhound and horseracing track. The bill became law on August 6, 2003.
The goal in Jai-Alai is to score 7 or 9 points, to win the game. Points are scored by the other team dropping, missing, holding, or sending the ball out of bounds
The game is played in a round-robin format, rotating teams every point, where the team to score a point stays on the court and the opposing team rotates off the court to the end of the list of opponents.
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