Growth of SuperContest, Westgate’s NFL handicapping contest, has a cost

On a Friday afternoon in early June, Jay Kornegay dropped the bomb. He knew the news was not going to go over well with some cynics.

“This is the way it is,” he said. “I’m not trying to camouflage it.”

It was an unintentional Friday news dump. In the worlds of business, politics and sports, savvy media relations members send out negative stories late on Fridays because that’s the best time to slip something by the public when fewer people are paying attention. Kornegay’s timing was not some sort of slick scheme.

The Westgate sports book director announced the SuperContest — the nation’s most prestigious NFL handicapping contest — will change from 100 percent payback to an 8 percent takeout this year. The money being pulled from the prize pool is an administration fee to cover escalating expenses.

It’s not a big deal, though some cynics reacted as if the sky was falling. I played golf Saturday, and the sky was blue. Nothing was falling. A tiny takeout from a football handicapping contest is not the end of the world.

But gamblers want everything for free, and when they get that, they want more for free. If you gamble, you should search for an advantage.

However, as Kornegay said, this is the way it is now because something had to change. The Westgate covered costs of more than $200,000 to run the SuperContest last year.

“We reviewed the contest over the offseason, and the numbers were not really flattering,” Kornegay said. “When we had 400 contestants, it wasn’t that big of a deal. But as it escalated in growth the past four or five years, the costs have really grown.”

The SuperContest grew from 745 entries in 2012 to 1,403 in 2014 to 1,727 last year. With a $1,500 entry fee, the prize pool hit a record $2.59 million, and all of it was paid back to the contestants. Now, the Westgate is taking a small cut to pay the bills.

“I know it’s not something that’s looked upon in a positive way, but we just can’t have a loss leader,” Kornegay said. “We’re not looking to make it profitable, but we’re trying to cover our expenses. We thought this number is fair.”

Daily fantasy sports players face similar takeouts in contests on DraftKings and FanDuel. World Series of Poker takeouts are between 4 and 11.5 percent.

Soon after the Westgate announced the takeout plan, I heard from two professional gamblers who hated the idea and said they might not enter this year. That’s understandable. I hate broccoli and peas, so I look elsewhere at the buffet. If you don’t like the takeout, don’t enter the contest.

Ron Boyles, a professional sports bettor in Las Vegas since the 1980s and an annual SuperContest entrant, said, “I don’t have a problem with it. Look at the World Series of Poker.”

Cynics can complain, but there are other options. Station Casinos runs football contests with advantageous payouts to players, and the Golden Nugget’s “Friday Football Showdown” — a contest that combines college football and NFL handicapping — still pays back 100 percent of entry fees to the contestants.

Golden Nugget sports book director Tony Miller said he expects 200 entries this fall at $2,000 apiece. His contest drew 87 entrants last year. The estimated surge is partly due to contestants who might exit the Westgate and use that money to enter the Nugget contest instead.

“We made three major changes that are going to enhance the contest and make it more competitive,” said Miller, who plans to announce the new format and open registration July 8. “This contest will keep growing.”

The explosive growth of the SuperContest was not leading to much increased foot traffic at the Westgate, Kornegay said, because many of the new entrants were coming from out of state and using a Las Vegas-based proxy to enter weekly picks. Kornegay is hoping to implement a procedure, pending approval of Nevada gaming regulators, that would allow out-of-state contestants to sign up in person and enter selections online.

“We’re looking to get rid of the proxy system,” Kornegay said. “We’re looking to improve the contest, too.”

Registration opens Friday, and Kornegay is hosting the fifth annual “SuperContest Weekend” on Aug. 26 and 27. There will be another free football handicapping seminar featuring several top analysts from around the nation, a golf outing and a raffle during which six free contest entries are given away.

“I expect the number of entries to drop a little this year,” Kornegay said, “but I think it will grow tremendously in the years to come.”

The contest was growing into a monster that got too big to be caged.

A takeout of 8 percent is a small price to pay, and the change was overdue.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports betting columnist Matt Youmans can be reached at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. He co-hosts “The Las Vegas Sportsline” weekdays at 2 p.m. on ESPN Radio (1100 AM). Follow on Twitter: @mattyoumans247