The football contests are structured to pay interim (usually weekly) and/or season-long prizes. When they pay weekly, there’s no conflict – if you’re in town and can submit your picks, you play. Then if you have to fashion a work-around to collect when you win, that’s a good problem to have. The big-money contests, though, Westgate’s "SuperContest" ($1,500 entry fee) and Golden Nugget’s "Friday Football Showdown" ($2,000), are season-long. And while it’s not a requirement that you submit picks every week in these contests, you have almost no chance to win, or even do well, if you don’t. Hence, many potential players from out of state would be excluded if not for the proxy services.
The proxies are legal and approved by both the state and the casinos running the contests. In fact, proxy services have been key contributors to the growth of the SuperContest in recent years. [As an aside, the casinos would like to get proxies out of the middle, but they’re too valuable to their contests to jettison without another way for out-of-staters to play and another way doesn’t currently exist.]
When you contract with a proxy, you convey your weekly picks to the company and it sends a representative to the sports book to submit them for you. In most cases (see below for an exception) you have to sign up in person in Las Vegas, but that’s the last time you have to be in town for the entire season. The fees for the service vary, but in most cases run about $300-$400 for a contest. Proxies used to also take a percentage of prize money won, but competition has changed that and it’s mostly just a flat fee now. The fee is for submitting the picks only; you still have to pay the full price of entering the contest. And note that the proxy simply submits the picks; it’s incumbent on you to make the selections and convey them to the proxy by a stated deadline.
Should you hire a proxy? That’s a personal decision that should be based either on an analysis of expected win in the contest relative to the cost of entering plus the cost of the proxy, or on the entertainment value to you to play. If you want to check out a proxy service, a couple of the bigger ones are footballcontestproxy.com and kellyinvegas.com. But there are also two smaller services worth looking at given that they offer some competitive alternatives in price and service options.
Lasvegascontestproxy.com is the least expensive we’ve seen if you want to enter a single contest. It charges a flat $200, then extra if you want more than one. The service is run by LarryK, who’s a known quantity as a longtime LVA member and was a contributor on the LVASports message boards when they were active.
Proxypicks.com offers the best deal if you want to play multiple contests, as it has a flat fee of $250 for one or all. "All" means the two big contests and at least "Gridiron Glory" at Station Casinos, which is free to enter. Proxypicks’ owner, David Page, whom we’ve also known for several years, says he will handle all the contests that come out, which should include William Hill, Aliante, Station’s "Last Man Standing," etc. and would be a good deal for $250. As of now, though, with none of the others having announced, only the two big ones and Gridiron Glory are listed on the website. Proxypicks.com also has a unique partner program that matches you with a local resident who handles both submitting the picks and the sign-up. The cost for this is slightly higher – $15 per week ($255 per year) plus 10% of winnings – but it’s the only way to play without signing up in person, and might also be the only way to participate in Boyd’s free "Pick the Pros" contest, which requires that the contest participant (your local partner) be the one that submits the picks.
