Dania Jai Alai Sport

Jai alai is a popular sport within the Latin American countries and the Philippines from its Hispanic influence. It was one of the two gambling sports from Europe, the other being horse racing, in the semi-colonial Chinese cities of Shanghai and Tianjin, and was shut down after the communist victory there. Jai Alai's Fall Season returns: Thursday, October 1, 2020 – Sunday, December 13, 2020 Casino Property Walkthrough OPEN Sunday – Thursday 9am – 1am Friday & Saturday 9am – 3am.

The Casino @ Dania Beach has announced that Jai Alai is set to reopen on Thursday, October 1 at 7 pm. This will be the fronton's first game since the coronavirus shutdown.

'Safely delivering to our guests the exciting live action games we are known for and getting our players back to the sport they love is a top priority for us,' said Arnaldo Suarez, CEO of The Casino @ Dania Beach. 'We have made the necessary adjustments to safely reopen and we're looking forward to welcoming back our loyal and valued fans.'

Seating inside the Jai Alai fronton at The Casino @ Dania Beach has been modified to account for 6-foot physical distancing between fans, reducing capacity from 400 to 75 guests. Additional self-betting stations have also been added.

Hosted for more than 60 years at The Casino @ Dania Beach, Jai Alai has been dubbed as the fastest moving ball sport in the world, by Guinness World Records. Jai Alai has been played in South Florida since 1924, when the first fronton opened in Hialeah. Jai Alai originated as a handball game in the Basque area of Spain's Pyrenees Mountains over four centuries ago. Games were played on Sundays and holidays in small villages at the local church, hence the name jai alai which means 'merry festival' in Basque.

Jai Alai Game Days & Times

Wednesday & Saturday 1PM & 7PM

Thursday & Friday 7PM Only

Sunday 4PM Only

Double down poker meaning. Health Safety at The Casino @ Dania Beach

To combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, The Casino @ Dania Beach has implemented numerous precautionary and enhanced safety and cleaning measures to keep patrons and staff safe.

There is one main point of entry at the fronton entrance by the guest parking lot. Guests are required to show their Players Club Card or photo ID. Prior to entering, guests are required to pass through a thermal body imaging camera and anyone with a temperature above 100.3 degrees will not be allowed to enter. Staff and guests are required to wear a face mask at all times.

Hours of Operation:

Casino: Sunday – Thursday 9am – 1am. Book of madness. Friday & Saturday 9am – 3am

Dania Jai Alai Stats

Poker Room: Sunday – Thursday 2pm – 1am, Friday – Saturday 2pm – 3am

The Casino @ Dania Beach is located at 301 E. Dania Beach Boulevard, Dania Beach, FL 33004. Follow on Instagram and Twitter @CasinoDaniaB and on Facebook @ The Casino at Dania Beach. For more information visit CasinoDaniaBeach.com.

Jai alai is a sport where a ball is bounced off a walled space. A hand-held device called cesta is used to accelerate the ball to a high speed. The speed record for a jai alai ball is 302 km/h. This speed was recorded set by José Ramón Areitio at the Newport Jai Alai in Rhode Island, USA.

Jai alai has its roots in a Basque ball game, which in turn is based on ball games played by the Greek and other ancient cultures in Southern Europe and around the Mediterranean. Today, Jai alai is chiefly played in former Spanish colonies in the Americas and South-Eastern Asia. Prior to the communist revolution in China, Jai alai was a popular gambling sport in both Shanghai and Tiajin, but when the communists came to power they banned the game. Another East Asian country where Jai alai has been banned is The Philippines, where the sports was outlawed in 1986 because of problems with game fixing. The law was changed in 2010 to allow Jai alai in the country again.

Dania Jai Alai Schedule

In the United States, Jai alai is chiefly played in Florida, a state with a large Hispanic population. There is currently six jai alai frontons in Florida; they are located in Miami, Orlando, Dania Beach, Reddick, Jasper, and Forth Pierce. The very first jai alai fronton in the United States wasn't opened in Florida though; the first U.S. fronton was the one that opened in St. Louis, Missouri around the time of the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.

Spain has 10 frontons for professional play. Five of them are in Basque Country, two are located in Barcelona, and the remaining three in Madrid, Zaragoza and Palma de Mallorca, respectively.

In Mexico, there are two frontons in Mexico City, plus one in Acapulco and one in Tijuana.

Trivia

• In the U.S., a professional jai alai player will wear a jersey with one number on the front and another number on the back. The number on the back is the player's permanent number. The number at the front is the players current playing position, so this number changes with every game. It's a bit like the number worn by a racehorse; the horse is given a new number prior to each new race.
• In Basque, the game is often called zesta-punta, which means basket tip.
• In Spanish, the game is known as pelota vasca.
• The name jai alai was coined by Serafín Baroja (1840 – 1912) who first used it for the game of Basque pelota in 1875. Baroja was a Basque writer and mining engineer who wrote Basque poetry and lyrics. In Basque, jai alai means merry festival. When the game was introduced on Cuba at the turn of the century (1800/1900), the name jai alai was the one that caught on.
• During World War II, Ernest Hemingway suggested that jai alai players should be used to lob grenades down the hatches of German submarines.
• A traditional cesta, the 2.5 feet oblong curved wicker scoop strapped on the player's right arm, is made from steamed chestnut wood and woven reeds. A leather glove is sewn to the outside to hold the player's hand in place.
• A traditional jai alai ball is made from goatskin. The ball is called pelota, which simply means ball in Spanish. When rubber was introduced to Europe from South America, this new material was included in the pelota, permitting an even faster game than before. The faster balls hurt the players' hands and they started wearing a leather glove (guante) on the right hand. It is from this guante that the cesta evolved.
• A contemporary pelota is still made from hardened goatskin, but with virgin rubber as well, and a few final turns of linen or nylon thread. The pelotas are made by hand and quite expensive. (Expect to pay $100 per ball in the U.S.) The goat skin cover must normally be replaced after just 15 minutes of play, since it wear out quickly due to the extreme forces it is subjected to.
• A jai alai pelota is both harder and heavier than a golf ball. It is roughly ¾ the size of a baseball. Since the cancha walls needs to be really durable, they are often made from granite, especially the front wall. For budget reasons, having a concrete back wall and side wall is quite common.
• The high speed makes the ball capable of causing serious injury. The audience is usually seated behind a chain-link fence to protect them. The players on the other hand have no such comprehensive protection, and injuries are not uncommon. In the United States, professional players will wear a helmet to protect the head. It wasn't always so though; in 1968 a professional player ended up in a coma for 6 months after the pelota hit his unprotected head.
• Professional jai alai players (pelotaris) are traditionally known by a short nickname rather than their real name, e.g. Jabi, Borja, Padin, Pedro, Kompa, Larru, Hoey, Gino, Erik, Azpiri, Rocha, Ander, Rekalde, Aperri, Olabe, Kompa, Larru, Don, Elgueta, or Mouhica – all examples of successful pelotaris active in the USA.
• A jai alai player will usually wear a t-shirt, white pants, sneakers, a helmet and a red sash. The red sash is worn around the waist, and is called faja.
• The practice of using a woven basket-glove on the right hand was popularized by Gantchiqui Dithurbide from Saint-Pée, France in the 1860s. The long version known today was brought to mainstream attention by Melchior Curuchage from Buenos Aires, Argentina in the late 1880s.