Magic City Pelota games, formerly known as pari-mutuel Jai-Alai wagering games, got off to a phenomenal start for 2022 with the first two performances on Monday & Tuesday, February 14-15. While the pari-mutuel wager options for the Pelota games have not changed from last year, the 2022 roster has changed and it’s bigger and better! The Pelota roster grew in size to 26-players with the addition of six former Dania players and this has resulted in more competitive games and larger payoffs.
There were two large trifecta payoffs on Monday’s opener; the tough 4-6-7 trifecta paying $1,188.70 for the $1 ticket and the 7-6-5 trifecta paying $1,656.00 for the $1 ticket. Overall for the first two days of Pelota games the average $1 trifecta payoff was a whopping $314! The smallest trifecta for opening day was the common 4-3-2 trifecta combination paying $94.00 for the $1 ticket. Wagering pools were also much larger than they were when the 2021 season ended. The trifecta pools for the first two days of 2022 were 50% higher than the November 2021 average trifecta pools. One of the exacta pools was even larger than $500. These are all good signs showing that pari-mutuel wagering on the Magic City Pelota product is on the rise.
So far after the first two days of play, singles games win leaders are Carballo and Ikeda, both with 50% wins by each winning two of their four appearances in games 3 and 4. Games 3 and 4 are referred to as the mid-games singles players. The early game singles (ga 1,2) along with the late games singles (ga 6,8) have resulted in 8-different players winning these games for the first two days. The popular Golden Cesta Award for most singles wins each week will be extended 3-more playing days until Feb. 22, per Andrew Blechman, as the 2022 inaugural week was not a full week of games. The first Golden Cesta Award of 2022 should be quite a “Pelota” Battle!
Vuelo, an early game player, back for 2022 after taking a break from playing in the later half of 2021, got off to a quick start in early singles games with a win, place and a show in his four appearances, leading the early game players with 75% ITM (in the money). Vuelo is also a ref in the Battle Court H2H games. Douglas and Goixerri are the current late game singles ITM leaders with 75% each for their four appearances.
Doubles games (ga 5,7) are even more competitive this year. There are currently 11-doubles teams until RonRon returns to play and will be teamed with Vuelo for a total of 12-Pelota game teams. Ikeda-Bradley got off to an early lead in this first singles tournament for 2022 with two wins in their first 3-games. They had a place in their other game and are the only team with 100% ITM. The other two teams with one win each are Anderluck-Benny and Jeden-Goixerri. Five of the eleven teams are currently 0% ITM at this very early stage, however, that will soon change.
Spectators are allowed to watch Pelota games on Sundays only for the 1:30 pm EST performance and fronton doors open for seating at 1:00 pm. Pelota games are played at Magic City Casino and Jai-Alai at 1:30 pm EST on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday each week with the new and exciting Battle Court H2H matches following at 5:00 pm EST. Be sure to tune in to YouTube’s The Jai-Alai Channel for Pelota games only and watchjaialai.com, along with other viewing options for the Battle Court H2H games.
Battle Court H2H games now feature the new Squad aspect with includes six singles game players and four doubles teams for each of the four Battle Court H2H Squads with six team members per Squad. The four Squads are named the Cesta Cyclones, Chula Chargers, Rebote Renegades and Wall Warriors. Two Squads square-off each Battle Court H2H day with 3-singles games and 2-doubles games. Check out a previous Battle Court H2H blog post along with Jeff “Laca” Conway’s pelotapress.com for more details. Fans can check out the current Battle Court H2H Squad point totals on the Magic City Casino website. Sports wagering on Battle Court H2H games is currently being done through BetRivers.com in 7-states (AZ, CO, IA, IL, NJ, PA, VA).
Be sure to support the Pelota version of Jai-Alai by wagering on this pari-mutuel version of these Jai-Alai games. You can do the pari-mutuel wagers from many states through watchandwager.com and mywinners.com. Check out those sites for more details.
Steve M (aka straymar)