Jai alai (/ˈhaɪ.əlaɪ/ HYE-ə-lye: [ˈxai aˈlai]) is a Basque sport involving bouncing a ball off a walled-in space by accelerating it to high speeds with a hand-held wicker, commonly referred to as a cesta.

The term jai alai, coined by Serafin Baroja in 1875, is also often loosely applied to the fronton (the open-walled playing area) where matches take place.

If the ball (called a pelota in Spanish, pilota in Standard Basque) touches the floor outside these walls, it is considered out of bounds.

[2][3] Jai alai is a popular sport within the Latin American countries and the Philippines due to 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.

The jai alai arena in Tianjin's former Italian Concession was then confiscated and turned into a recreation center for the city's working class.

[4] However, the game returned to the country once again in March 2010 in the province of Pangasinan albeit was briefly paused in 2011 caused by a blanket restriction on non-traditional sports abetted by a Chinese lottery jueteng[5] but was lifted immediately.

Nowadays, Jai alai is played strictly as a competitive and entertainment sport at the Casino Español de Manila.

The first jai alai fronton in the United States was located in St. Louis, Missouri, operating around the time of the 1904 World's Fair.

After the 1988 season, the players, 90% of them Basque, returned home and threatened not to come back unless the owners improved their work conditions.

Spain was no longer a poor conservative country and the new generation of players were influenced by leftist Basque nationalism.

The owners, however, offered the same terms and substituted with inexperienced locals, while the world-class stars picketed the courts for years.

[15] Professional Jai-Alai frontons no longer exist in Connecticut and Rhode Island, where they first opened in the 1970s, waning as other gambling options became available.

Jai-alai playing ended in 2003 at which point the facility was converted into Newport Grand, a slot machine and video lottery terminal parlor, which closed permanently in August 2018.

[citation needed] The first public amateur jai alai facility was in Milford CT and owned by Charlie Hernandez.

[citation needed] In addition to the amateur court in St. Petersburg, The American Jai-Alai Foundation offers lessons.

Its president, Victor Valcarce, was a pelotari at Dania Jai-Alai (MAGO) and was considered the best "rubber ball" player in the world.

Sponsored in North Miami Beach, Florida which was once owned by World Jai-Alai as a school that, in 1972, produced the greatest American pelotari, Joey Cornblit.

[25] Retired players visited and played as well as highly skilled amateurs, pros from Miami Jai-Alai and various other professional frontons operating at the time.