One Miami casino is working to save jai alai, the world's fastest ball sport. Magic City Casino is now home to the last spot to see jai alai played professionally. A group of committed athletes and enthusiasts have been working to save the sport from extinction after several decades of its decline.
Magic City has hired a roster of 28 athletes to play after Dania Beach Casino’s fronton ended its seven-decade run in 2021. The players hail from several countries, including Spain, France, the US and the Philippines.
Magic City’s Chief Operating Officer Scott Savin said: “We’re pretty confident there’s a future. At least there’s a present, so that means we have a fighting chance at a future.”
Some players are former high school and college athletes who learned to play jai alai as adults.
Tanard Davis was recruited in 2018 after he moved to Atlanta to begin career in law enforcement. Davis had played football at the University of Miami and was later signed by the Indianapolis Colts. After his NFL career ended, Davis responded to an email blast from Magic City’s owners, who were looking for volunteers to play jai alai among Hurricanes alumni.
Davis said he is grateful for the opportunity to help keep the sport going.
“It’s like a high school basketball player facing off against Lebron James,” he said. “I don’t stand a chance in the long run, but I want to play as hard as I can.”
Davis is 39 and one of the oldest on the roster.
Jai alai originated from the France and Spain’s Basque region. It made its US debut at the 1904 World’s Fair when the first jai alai fronton – a single or two-walled court used as a playing area – was constructed in St. Louis. The sport eventually settled in Miami during the 1970s and 1980s. Jai alai has had a comfortable home Florida for decades because pari-mutuel betting on greyhounds, horseracing and jai alai has been legal there since the 1930s.
The sport began to decline during the 1980s after Florida authorized its lottery. After that, Jai alai players went on a strike that lasted more than two years. Competition from tribal casinos also contributed to jai alai’s decline.
Magic City hopes reviving the sport will reach a younger online betting demographic. The casino has partnered with BetRivers in seven states to expand its online betting platform to younger players.
