Miami casino works to save beloved jai alai from extinction

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The world’s fastest ball sport has been dying a slow death for decades.

Now, a group of committed enthusiasts is doing all it can to save jai alai, a game that originated in the Basque region of Spain and France but took root in Miami during the go-go days of the 1970s and '80s.

What could be jai alai’s curtain call is playing out at Magic City Casino, the last place the game is played as a professional sport. Gone are the celebrities like Paul Newman and John Travolta who used to crowd into sweaty, smoke-filled grandstands on a Saturday night to watch elite athletes fling a goatskin ball called a pelota in a three-walled fronton, or court, at 130 mph (210 km/h).

Instead, just a few dozen family members and die-hard fans turned out for a recent match. Live wagering, which long drove the sport, has dried up in the era of YouTube and online gambling. And many of the game’s top players who used to make the journey across the Atlantic have hung up their wicker cestas — curved baskets for catching and throwing — leaving a void that a roster of local, homegrown talent is hard-pressed to fill.

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Chris Bueno returns a ball in a Jai Alai match at the Magic City Casino fronton, Sunday, March 13, 2022, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

But the one advantage of having fallen so far is that the only direction left to go is up.

"We’re pretty confident there’s a future," said Scott Savin, the chief operating officer of Magic City. "At least there’s a present, so that means we have a fighting chance at a future."

The fate of the sport depends on the shoulders — and overextended rotator cuffs — of Magic