Las Vegas, Nevada, Jan. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The current NFL season hasn’t finished, but that isn’t stopping Jay Kornegay, the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook’s vice president of race and sports, from getting a jump on 2020.
Beginning 10 a.m. Monday, entries will start being accepted for the SuperContest, the SuperContest Gold and the SuperContest Mid-season Reboot. The 2019 contest launched May 1 after years of kicking off signups on July 1.
“We’re in a competitive environment so we need to try different things,” Kornegay said, referring to Circa Sports’ Million Pro Football Contest. “By launching on the 13th, we can let the Super Bowl crowd sign up without having to make the extra trip.”
The SuperContest costs $1,500 to enter, the SuperContest Gold is $5,000 and the Reboot, which runs from Weeks 9 through 17, is $500. Contestants must pick five NFL games against the point spread set by Kornegay’s staff. The top 100 finishers in the SuperContest get paid. Iconic sports broadcaster Brent Musburger will be on hand at the Westgate SuperBook Monday to be the first contestant to enter the contest.
This year, there were 3,328 entrants and the winner, Eric Jensen, who went under the alias “It Ain’t Easy,” won $1,469,644.80.
Monday’s launch also means those who run proxy services will find themselves busy. Kelly Stewart, a public handicapper for WagerTalk and Bleacher Report, has one of eight proxy services in Las Vegas. She’s preparing for a Manic Monday.
“It will absolutely be incredibly busy,” said Stewart, who with her partner Brett Siedleki, will be ready to sign up new clients as well as renew relationships with current ones, including Jensen. “I think it’s great they moved up the date for signing up. You’re going to get people coming in for the divisional games this weekend, the conference championship games next week and of course, for the Super Bowl.”
The proxy fees vary. Stewart charges a flat fee of $300 up front but doesn’t get a pre-determined percentage of the prize if one of her clients wins. But she had the winners of both the SuperContest and the Circa contest as clients and nine of the top 100 finishers in the SuperContest used her as their proxy.
“We had $3.2 million in prize money awarded to our clients,” she said. “I’m very proud of that.
“I like to think we provide the best service. There’s a lot that goes into it. I’m very meticulous. I triple-check every entry before I submit it. The last thing I want is to make a mistake, which could cost a client.”
Kornegay said allowing proxies has helped grow the contestant numbers and the ability of using your phone to send your weekly picks in has also been a boost. To that end, Kornegay said the deadlines during the season for the 2020 contest will be extended from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Saturday for mobile entries and from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday for in-person selections at the SuperBook.
“Sometimes there’s bugs in the technology,” he said. “You may not know you have a problem until you try to send, whether it’s a WiFi issue at your end or at our end. This will help the contestants and give them some leeway, that extra buffer zone.”
Kornegay said the number of entries per person will increase to three and there will be quarterly prizes of $100,000 for first place, $25,000 for second and $10,000 for third.
“We’re trying to improve it each year,” he said. “Circa obviously took some of the contestants away from us. But that’s O.K. Competition is a good thing. That’s why we made a few alterations.”
Kornegay said the SuperContest’s basic format doesn’t need alteration.
“Let me tell you about contests,” he said. “Everybody has an idea of what format there should be and what the entry fee should be. The hardest thing we did with the SuperContest was change some of the rules. But we think it’s a fair format and a fair price [to enter].”
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