How Long Was Jai Alai Played at the Old MGM Grand?

After seeing an old picture of the game jai alai, I was wondering what is the history of the game and how long was it played at the old MGM?

Appropriately enough for Nevada, home to many a Basque immigrant, jai alai originated in that region of Spain. The name literally means “merry festival,” which belies the ferocity with which jai alai was played. However, it was also synonymous with Sundays and church festivities, hence the “merry” tag. (St. Ignatius Loyola was supposedly a devoted jai alai player.) It is also known as zesta-punta, a more accurate description meaning “basket tip.”

The game is played in an arena called a fronton. It involves whipping a ball (pelota) into and out of a basket-like wicker glove or cesta. The fast-moving and perilous action has been called “ballet with bullets” and resembles handball, only much more fierce. Players run up the walls of the cancha, or playing court, to snare the pelota as it zips through the air at 170 miles per hour or more. The pelota is smaller than a baseball and is metal wire wrapped in two layers of goat skin. Woe betide you if you get hit by one. Jai alai fatalities are not unknown.

The cancha is 176 feet long and 40 feet wide. Since the right side of the cancha is open to spectators and the left wall is in play, all players must wear their cesta on their right hand. So ballistic is the impact of the pelota that the far end of the cancha is traditionally built of granite.

Writes ArtOfManliness.com, “Scoring in jai alai is very similar to racquetball. Each point starts off with a serve. The server must bounce the ball behind the serving line (line number 11), then hurl it towards the front wall. The ball must bounce between lines 4 and 7 after it hits the front wall.”

Points are gained when the opposing team fails to bounce the pelota between lines 4 and 7, doesn’t catch the pelota after the first bounce, juggles the pelota, throws it out of bounds, or otherwise interferes with play. So the onus is more on the offense not to make mistakes, not the defense. Spectators can bet on the action, which is played in round-robin format, like a horse race.

As you can imagine, the game initially caught on in Spanish-influenced countries like the Philippines, Mexico, and Cuba. Jai alai first gained a cesta-hold in the United States in 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair and grew in popularity, cresting in the 1970s with a record-setting crowd of 15,502 at a Miami fronton on December 27, 1975. In its heyday, jai alai was a respectable evening’s entertainment, patronized by tuxedoed spectators. (It was even popular in metropolitan areas of China before the killjoy Communists took power.)

Various reasons for jai alai’s collapse range from poorly managed leagues and rumors of fixed games to outright scandal, one of them involving infamous Boston mobster Whitey Bulger. Labor problems were frequent and disruptive; a players’ strike from 1988 to 1991 didn't help, nor did the rapid rise of other forms of gambling and Florida as a destination for major league sports, crowding out the Basque pastime. Nowadays, the words “jai alai” conjure up six minor Florida frontons, where small-stakes matches are subsidized by slot machines, courtesy of a 2003 Sunshine State law.

Kirk Kerkorian opened a jai alai fronton at the old MGM Grand (now Bally’s) on December 5 1973. It was a celebrity hangout, drawing the likes of James Garner, Michael Landon, and Pete Rose, and was used as a backdrop for the Jon Voigt/Ann-Margret film Lookin’ to Get Out. But it didn’t catch on with the general public.

“In Las Vegas, jai alai wasn’t crazy, it wasn’t off the charts,” reminisced oddsmaker Kenny White to Gaming Today.

The fronton was abruptly shut down in November 1983. While it lasted, it was a tempestuous time. “Basques, Spaniards, and Mexicans produced combustion. Fights were frequent — helmets and fists flying — in the locker room,” records author Rob Miech. Players made only $126 a month. If they went on strike, they got shipped out of the country. Admission fees rankled patrons, as did a lack of matinée matches. Trifectas, a popular jai alai wager, weren’t allowed.

Less famous was the MGM Grand fronton in Reno, which operated from 1978 to 1980. But jai alai eventually proved to be one loss-leader too many for MGM.

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jpfromla Aug-30-2021

Where were the courts?

Some have said it was at the current Bally’s sports book, others at the Bally/CET Employment Center.

jeepbeer Aug-30-2021

location

I recall they were way towards the "back", or the east end of the buildings.

Roy Furukawa Aug-30-2021

Interesting

Interesting history of the game in the U.S., but the player's strike ended up bringing an earlier demise of the game. Sounds like union leaders were clueless on their amount of leverage and power, much like the MLB umpires when they decided a mass resignation was smart and half ended up just getting replaced.

Texas Transplant Aug-30-2021

Used to watch the games in Connecticut

In the late 70's and early 80's we used to go to Connecticut, (maybe new Haven)for Saturday afternoon matinees.  A lot of fun and action,the people playing would somehow climb 10+ feet up the wall to catch a shot and return it...WOW!

 s far as dangerous, saw a referee get hit in his ribs with the ball, and he was in a world of hurt. while they had little nets to stop the ball, it looked like a blur it was moving so fast...not the safest place to be.   

Took my elderly mother there. For her first match, she picked three numbers in the car whle we were driving up, (no information on who was playing, etc.).. I played them and won both a quinella and a trifecta box on the first match. She thought the game was easy. Played conservatively after that and came home with some nice money, since a long shot came in second.

Great memories, wish it would come back, the men playing were truly ATHLETES.

Andyb Aug-30-2021

Jai alai

For many years back in the 70s we would travel to Tijuana Mexico to see the Jai alai. When it was offered in Las Vegas we went once. It was more exciting and fun in Mexico for some reason. I think the players were paid to much and did not have to work as hard. Not sure. Same betting however.

Jeffrey Small Aug-30-2021

No left handed players!

Depressed ever since I found out that I couldn't play professional jaI alai since I am left handed.  Not that I could anyway, but I agree there is strategy like racquetball.  Fun to watch, especially the doubles matches, since the front court action can be exciting.  I went to the matches at MGM once.  Here in Florida it now appears that the game is an afterthought; at the Dania Fronton they reduced the spectator area from about 30 rows to 3--used all of the extra space for slot machines.  And, yes, I have personal knowledge that there was a rigged game each night "for the families" of the players.  Also, for a player on his birthday--until they started publishing the birthdays which ruined the secret!

Question of the Day - 30 August 2021

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