Changes coming for Westgate SuperContest – ESPN
LAS VEGAS — Summertime is traditionally a pretty slow time in the race and sports books here. But don’t try to tell that to Jay Kornegay of the Westgate SuperBook.
For one thing, he won’t believe you. For another, he doesn’t have time for chit-chat.
He carved out 30 minutes last week to discuss SuperContest registration that opens this Wednesday, July 1, as well as rule/format changes for the coming season, but he was interrupted several times to take care of issues pertaining to a bunch of other things on his plate, including:
* The complete renovation of the SuperBook taking place over the next two months (in fact, right before our meeting, we witnessed the sports betting counters on the left side of the book getting ripped out of the walls and carted away).
* A smartphone app that is expected to launch before football season.
* Preparations for the SuperContest Weekend on Aug. 28-29.
And that’s all on top of what other sports books directors have to deal with on a daily basis at this time of year, which isn’t as slow as it used to be considered: There are usually a full slate of MLB games to post, plus golf, auto racing, soccer (including the ongoing women’s World Cup), tennis, WNBA and arena football.
But at the top of Kornegay’s “To Do List” this week is making sure the SuperContest gets off and running on Wednesday, as the contest has exploded in recent years.
“The SuperContest is more popular than ever and we expect another record turnout,” Kornegay said. “It used to be that only those in Vegas and those really connected to the industry here knew about the contest and that you could enter from out of state. The more mainstream media like people on ESPN have talked about it and with more people learning about the contest through social media, that has led to these record fields. … We don’t know how big it can get.”
For the first 24 years of the SuperContest, the top 20 cashed, but demand prompted that to be increased to the top 30 last year. Well, with another spike in entries expected, the top 50 are now going to cash. Like last year, the champion will receive 35 percent of the prize pool. The Westgate is posting a potential pay table for a conservative total of 1,700 entries that would have first prize at $892,500. If the SuperContest gets to 1,905, the first prize would exceed $1 million (note: the SuperContest full prize pool had never topped a million until just four years ago).
Now, there have been rumors that the Westgate was going to charge an administrative fee or take a cut from the prize pool — Kornegay assured this to reporter that’s not the case. However, he said the rumors were not totally unfounded, as an administrative fee has been discussed and will likely happen if the SuperContest continues to explode.
“It takes a lot to run this contest,” Kornegay said, “and we know we get a lot of publicity out of it, but there comes a point where it’s getting so big that we need to recoup some of the costs. If it grows over 2,500, we’ll probably have that discussion again, but it’s not going to be 10 percent [like it was back when it was the Hilton SuperContest in the 1980s and ’90s and what some have speculated recently]. It’d be a lot closer to one percent or something like that.”
For now, the Westgate will again pay back 100 percent of entry fees, plus adding $15,000 for the early-bird bonus contest for those registering by 4 p.m. PT on Labor Day and the $15,000 bonus to be shared by those entries that exceed 67 percent winners. SuperContest contestants will still make five NFL picks against the spread each week using contest lines that are posted on Wednesday afternoon. The deadline for weekly submissions is 11 a.m. PT Saturdays, except if playing a Thursday game (and then all five picks are due by the scheduled kickoff of the first game played).
One major change is that contestants and proxies will now be given a players’ card to submit picks at kiosks and will require a PIN instead of the past system of filling out parlay-type cards and giving them to a ticket writer. The kiosks will have their own area in the remodeled SuperBook.
The reconstruction of the book was aimed to be completed before football season started, but delays have made that less of a possibility. Kornegay, however, said a plan is in place to keep the book open continuously throughout the work by putting in a temporary counter in front of the right side (which, again, will now be the sports side), while work on all the new betting machines and TV screens will proceed behind a wall to likely be unveiled in September. The carrels in the book are also being replaced section by section with chairs and TVs as well.
Kornegay definitely wants the smartphone app to be running before football starts. The Westgate has long had the biggest betting menu in the city, but the biggest complaint from bettors is that they’ve had to go to the casino to place a bet as a single-property book without a smartphone app. Station Casinos, William Hill, CG Technology, Boyd Gaming and the South Point books were the first to market with their apps to offer that convenience, but Kornegay is thrilled to compete in that area, too (note: MGM has also announced plans to launch it apps this fall/winter).
Gamblino app winners
Finally, speaking of apps, this was the first year that the Westgate held the SuperContest Satellite Series on the GamblinoApp for people to play contests to try and earn a free $1,500 SuperContest entry. Kornegay said that has been a success, by not only the way they were run but by helping further spread the word about the SuperContest to out-of-state fans/bettors who might otherwise not have heard about it.
Raul Soto of Las Vegas and Brian Spencer of Bothell, Wash., won Gamblino’s NBA and NHL playoff contests, respectively, and join March Madness contest winner Sal Gamino of Chicago in earning the SuperContest berths and trips to Vegas to stay at the Westgate for SuperContest Weekend, where they’ll be joined by the winner of the “March to the All-Star Break” baseball contest that ends next month. All contests had players starting with a mythical bankroll of 10,000 points and bets that began with a limit of 1,000 points and grew to 4,000 by the end of the contests.
Soto was among the leaders throughout the NBA contest and at one point had built his bankroll up to 59,926 points. He was in first place heading into the Finals, but fell out of the top three heading into Game 5. Then he hit for 4,000 on the Warriors minus-9 in their 104-91 victory over the Cavaliers and hit for another 4,000 each on the money line and over 194.5. That gave him enough cushion to hold onto the title with 47,316 points, even though he lost 4,000 on a Cleveland series bet.
Spencer had to come from behind to win the NHL contest as he trailed the leader by nearly 6,000 points heading into the Stanley Cup finals, but he went 10-2-1 in the Blackhawks’ win over the Lightning to finish with 60,532 and win the title.
I was hoping to win an entry myself. I had a good run, as I was in the top 20 (out of more than 1,000 entries in each of the NHL, NBA and MLB contests) in all three contests, but wasn’t able to close a deal.
So, I’ll be there with the rest of you on SuperContest Weekend entering the drawings (there will be six SuperContest entries raffled off) or paying for my own.
See you there.
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