What's more, the sport faced even tighter competition in Florida with the arrival of professional baseball, basketball and hockey, which has led to a marked decrease in attendance. While in the 1980s, the game attracted thousands of spectators, in recent years stadiums were filled with only a couple dozen attendees as wagers were done through mobile apps. However, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the sport to retain an audience. And in the early '80s, there was a couple of exotic wagers that really brought the big gamblers out - in one day, it wasn’t odd to see a million dollars bet in one day,” said Benny Bueno, a former jai alai player and the director of jai alai player operations at Dania Beach.

“We would get, you know, five or six thousand people in a performance. In its heyday during the 1980s, there were 14 frontons throughout the U.S., including Florida, Connecticut, Rhode Island and in Las Vegas. It was brought to the United States in 1924, but gained popularity during the 1970s and the '80s after gambling in the game became legal. Deemed one of the world’s fastest ball sports and originating in Spain’s and France’s Basque region, jai alai involves bouncing a ball off a three-walled court and catching it with a “cesta” or basket.

Ocala poker jai alai florida