2016 Football Contests & Available Proxy Services

1 -- Introduction
2 -- The Proxy & the Services He Provides
3 -- 2016 Football Contests -- Basic Information
4 -- 2016 Westgate NFL Super Contest
5 -- 2016 Golden Nugget Friday Football Showdown
6 -- 2016 William Hill Pro Football Pick 'Em Contest
7 -- 2016 William Hill College Football Pick 'em Contest
8 -- 2016 Stations Casinos College Football Last Man Standing Contest
9 -- 2016 Stations Casinos Pro Football Last Man Standing Contest
10 -- The Proxy & the Services He Provides

Because of the popularity of football, especially the NFL, each football season many Sports Books in Las Vegas and throughout Nevada offer weekly and/or season long football contests, often in an effort to attract as much traffic into their casino and sports book as possible.

Some contests are free. Some carry a modest price tag to enter ($25 to $250). Others are more of the "high end" variety (such as the Westgate Las Vegas Super Contest) with entry fees of $ 1,500.oo -- and upwards.

These contests offer prizes in the six figures ($100,000 or more) and some pay up to 50 places. Some of the contests even offer "rebates" on their entry fees in the form of free slot play or offer end of season prizes in the form of cash and free slot play.

Some contests offer weekly prizes of several thousand dollars. Some contests offer season long prizes of $5,000 to $100,000 or more. And some contests offer a combination of weekly and season long prizes.

The majority of the contests involve picking the straight up winners of NFL games (usually just the Sunday and Monday games). A few contests -- mainly those that carry entry fees of $250 or more -- involve picking winners against the pointspread. Some contests have involved just college football.

Contests are available for almost every budget and for fans with varying degrees of knowledge and interest in football.

These contests have become increasingly popular with residents and seasonal visitors to Las Vegas and Nevada.


But there are also ways for non-residents and occasional visitors to participate in some of these contests -- BY UTILIZING THE SERVICES OF A PROXY. Read on for details and further information on these contests and available proxy services.


Most contests require the contestant to enter IN PERSON in Las Vegas but then allow the weekly selections to be submitted by a Proxy.

Depending on the specific contests rules, a contestant may or may not be required to submit their weekly selections in person.

In some contests where 'in person' submissions are required, a contestant is able to designate a specific person as a proxy who is authorized to submit the weekly selections for that contestant (such as the Westgate Las Vegas NFL Super Contest).

For contests that do not require weekly selections to be submitted in person a proxy is nonetheless needed for contestants who are not able to be in Las Vegas to make the weekly selections as at the present time Contests do not allow for submissions by telephone or over the Internet.

Since moving to Las Vegas in 1991 Andy Iskoe of Logical Approach has entered many of the football contests offered and sponsored by the Sports Books in Las Vegas.

In fact, in 2016 he has entered the Super Contest for a 26th consecutive season!

In addition to having had great success as a contestant in most of these contests over the years, he has also been a Proxy for contestants who live out of town and are not able to make the weekly selections in person at the various Sports Books, most notably for the Super Contest for which he has proxied for more than 10 years.

In 2016 he shall again be offering his services as a Proxy for contestants who are unable to submit selections in person.

The keys to an effective Proxy/Contestant relationship are organization and communication.

Over the years Andy has developed an organized, structured and sensible system for disseminating and receiving contest selection information with the contestants for whom he has served as Proxy. Details of that system are explained below, both before and after the descriptions of most of the weekly football contests that shall be offerred for 2016.

The Proxy procedure is similar for all contests with minor variations due to time and/or deadline variations that will vary according to the specific contest.

Using the Westgate NFL Super Contest as an example, emails are sent on Wednesday evenings by Andy to the contestants for whom he is a Proxy. The email will contain information related to the contest lines for the upcoming week's games (to be released by 5 PM Pacific time Wednesdays in 2016), expected to include links to contestants' results for the previous week, season-to-date results and the overall standings for all contestants (including information on the status of the contestants currently in "cashing" position -- for 2016 the Top 50 and ties).

The contestant is then responsible for providing Andy with his/her 5 contest selections by email no later than 6 PM Pacific Time on FRIDAY evening (or at a later time as mutually agreed upon) so that the selections may be submitted to the Westgate safely in advance of the LVH's official Saturday 11 AM deadline. If the contestant is using the Thursday game(s) the selections should be received by Andy by 10 AM Pacific time on Thursday with all 5 selections required to be submitted at the same time (for this reason the Thursday game is usually the least played game each week).

The Fee charged for the Proxy Service is agreed upon with each contestant and may be based upon the specific contest or combination of contests entered, the number of entries, the complexities of "administering" your weekly entries/selections, and other factors. The Fee is generally a flat, up front one time fee with no requirement to share a percentage of any winnings earned by the contestant.

FORMAT (Rule 7)-- Contestants select 5 NFL games each week against the pointspread for 17 weeks. Sides only. No Totals. The pointspread is a "static" pointspread as established by the Westgate on Wednesdays and thus does not change even though the actual betting lines on the games may change during the week. The lines are generally available around 5 PM Pacific time on Wednesdays at the Westgate and on their website.

ENTRY FEE & DEADLINE (Rules 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10) -- $ 1,500.oo per entry with a maximum of 2 entries allowed per Social Security Number. Entrants (and Proxies, if any) must be 21 years of age. Contestant must also have a "Players Card" which is free and is expected to be available at the Contest Sign Up Window. Deadline to enter the Contest is 11 AM Pacific time on Saturday, September 10, 2016 (deadline for submission of first week's selections).

METHOD/FORM OF PAYMENT (Rule 3) -- Payment of the Entry Fee may be in the form of cash, check, cashiers check, money order, Westgate Las Vegas Resort live gaming chips and credit card. ***** NOTE -- Credit Cards are subject to a 3% surcharge *****

PAYOUT (Rule 16) -- 92% of Entry Fees paid to Top 50 Finishers (and ties) ranging from 35% for First Place to 0.1% for those finishing 42nd through 50th. Tie breakers are in place to determine First Place only. All other ties split the tied places' prize money equally. For 2016 the Westgate is charging an 8% "administrative fee" which result in $120.oo of each $1,500.oo not going to the Prize Pool. However, the Westgate is continuing to offer the Final 3 Weeks mini-contest and the 67% Winners Bonus -- See"Other Notes" below

WEEKLY SELECTION SUBMISSION DEADLINE (Rule 12) -- Saturday 11:00 AM Pacific Time. All selections are submitted at the same time and, once submitted, may not be changed. If a contestant chooses to use a Thursday game all 5 selections must be submitted prior to the start of that Thursday game. The Official Rules clearly emphasize that the submission deadline will be strictly enforced.

SELECTION SUBMISSION REQUIRMENTS (Rules 10 and 11) -- Contestant must submit entries in person or via a Proxy who has been registered by the Contestant with the Westgate Race & Sports Book. Contestants and their Proxy will be issued a Contest Card. The Card will be needed to enter the weekly selections at an electronic kiosk located in the Race & Sports Book.

CONTESTANT IDENTIFICATION (Rule 5) -- Contestants may use an alias (approved by management) to identify his/her selections and standings as published throughout the contest period.

OTHER NOTES --
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CREDIT CARD SURCHARGE & PERSONAL CHECKS DEADLINE (Rule 3) -- Payment of the Entry Fee by Credit Card is subject to a 3% surcharge ($45.oo) per entry. Personal Checks will not be accepted after Sunday, August 28, 2016.

FINAL 3 WEEK MINI-CONTEST (Rule 17) -- An additional $ 20,000.oo (up from $15,000.oo in 2015) is put up by the Westgate for a 3 week Mini-Contest for the best record over the final 3 weeks of the season with the prize being winner-take-all -- no tie breakers -- those tied for the best 3 week record split the prize equally -- Contestants eligible are those who sign up and enter the contest prior to 4 PM Pacific time on Monday, September 5, 2016 (Labor Day).

67% WINNERS BONUS (Rule 18) -- Any contestant who picks 67% (or better) winners for the season shall receive an additonal $ 20,000.oo from the Westgate (up from $15,000.00 in 2015). If more than one contestant hits 67% (or better) the prize shall be evenly divided. Ties (pushes) are disregarded in calculation of the percentage.


Official Rules for 2016 may be found HERE


Information for the 2016 "SuperContest Weekend" (August 26 & 27, 2016) will be posted once it is officially released.

Prior to 2015 for several seasons the Golden Nugget sponsored a football contest that was limited to 16 contestants, each of whom put up an entry fee that, in different years, ranged from $3,000 to $5,000. The contest format was essentially a bracket contest with 15 head to head matchups between 2 of the contestants, each making 7 selections with the contestant with the better record advancing to the next round. Held over 15 weeks, the contest was comprised of 8 First Round matches, 4 Quarter Final matches, the Semi Finals and the Finals.

A commonly voiced complaint about such contests in the past has been that depending on the week a contestant who goes 6-1 would lose to an opponent who went 7-0 and fail to advance to the next round. Similarly a contestant who goes 2-5 would advance if his opponent went 1-6.

In an effort to address those issues and make this a fairer test of handicapping skills the Golden Nugget modified the format of the contest for 2015 which was well received and attracted 87 entries. The modifications widened the ability to participate and also accept more entries overall, including out of state entries via the use of a Proxy to submit the selections.

The 2015 Contest was acclaimed by most as a rousing success and has been tweaked a bit for 2016. The expectation is that the number of entries will grow considerably with an estimate of from 150 to 200 entries being a reasonable estimate.

FORMAT -- The Contest is divided into 2 parts and allows for an unlimited number of entries with the restriction that a contestant is limited to just 1 entry. All contestants will participate for the first 10 weeks of the contest. making 7 selections each week for the first 8 weeks and 9 selections for both week 9 and 10, such that all contestants will make 74 selections over the 10 weeks against the pointspread. Each winning selection is worth 1 point and each selection that pushes the pointspread is worth 1/2 point. After 10 weeks the 7 contestants with the most points will advance to the head-to-head bracket part of the contest as will the contestant who accumulates the most points in the combined weeks 9 and 10 who is not otherwise among the top 7 (allowing those who get off to a slow start to still have a chance to make the head to head matchup phase with a strong finish in weeks9 and 10). Selections may be made from all eligible college and NFL football games for that week and includes both Sides and Totals (but no first halves). The first week of the Contest coincides with Week 1 of the NFL schedule. The head to head portion of the contest runs from NFL weeks 11 through 17. For 2016 there will also be a 3 weeks Mini-Contest covering NFL weeks 15 through 17 that is open to all entrants. Each contestant will make 7 selections each week with a winning selection worth 1 point and a pushing selection worth a half point -- no Best Bets -- with the winner (and ties) winning or splitting 5% of the total prize pool. NOTE -- The format for the first 10 weeks represents a change from last season in that for the first 10 weeks none of the 7 (or 9) selections is designated a "Best Bet" as was the case last season. All selections are equally weighted with a winning selection earning one point and a pushing selection earning one-half point. "Best Bets" will be used for tie breaking purposes in the head to head matchup phase of the contest.


ENTRY FEE AND DEADLINE -- The entry fee is $ 2,000.oo with a maximum of one entry per person. The deadline to enter is Tuesday, September 6, 2016 at 10:00 PM Pacific time.


PAYOUT -- 100% of the Entry Fees will be paid out. The 8 contestants who advance to the Bracket portion of the contest will each receive $3,000 (i.e. recover their entry fee plus earn a $1,000 profit), resulting in a payout of $ 24,000. Each winner of a Quarter Final match will receive $ 2,000, resulting in an additional $ 8,000 payout. The remaining Prize Pool will be distributed among the four remaining contestants and the winner(s) of the mini-contest as follows: The Contest winner receives 60%; the Contest runner up recieves 25%; the two losers of the semi-finals round each recieve 5%; the winner(s) of the 3 week mini-contest receives 5%. Thus, if the contest recieves 150 entries the total prize pool will be $300,000. After distributing $32,000 to the 8 contestants advancing to the Bracket portion of the contest and the 4 winners of the first set of head to head matches the remaining $268,000 would be split with $160,800 going to the winner, $67,000 going to the loser of the Finals match and $13,400 apiece going to the two losers of the semi-finals round and the mini-contest winner(s).


WEEKLY SUBMISSION DEADLINE & REQUIREMENTS -- The contest uses 'static' lines and totals that will be posted by the Golden Nugget on Thursdays at approximately Noon Pacific time. The selections must be submitted in person at the Golden Nugget, either by the contestant or his/her authorized Proxy, by 2 PM Pacific time on Friday, a deadline that will be strictly enforced.


Additional details can be found in the Official Rules for the Contest which may be found by CLICKING HERE

This contest is similar in many respects to the very popular Stations Casinos Great Giveaway Contest that had been offered for many years in that the selections are made Straight Up (no pointspreads) and involves only Sunday and Monday games. There will be a total of 15 selections made each week and in weeks in which there are fewer than 15 games scheduled for Sunday/Monday Totals will be used to bring the total for those weeks to 15. For Week 16 Saturday games will also be included (See Highlight 3, below). For Totals, the contestant will required to select if a game will go OVER or stay UNDER a specified number of total points.

Highlughts of the William Hill Pro Football Contest include --

1 -- Contestant must be 21 years of age and have a "William Hill Rewards Club" Card (issued at no cost) or a William Hill Wagering Account to enter
2 -- $ 25.oo Entry Fee with a maximum of 10 entries per person allowed. If you purchase 4 entries you will receive a fifth entry for free. It seems that this only applies to the first four entries purchased and the free entry counts towards the limit of 10. Thus, it appears as though if you were to play the maximum 10 entries you would pay for 9 ($ 225.oo) and get 1 entry for free. Entries will not be accepted after 8:00 AM Pacific time on Sunday, September 11, 2016.
3 -- Pick games each week Straight Up, NOT against the pointspread. Totals and/or Saturday games are used in weeks in which there are fewer than 15 Sunday/Monday games. Note that for the 2016 season there will be 12 Saturday games (Christmas Day is on a Sunday).
4 -- Contest will last all 17 weeks of the regular season and involves Sunday and Monday games only with the exception noted in item 3.
5 -- There are no tie breakers for the weekly prize -- those tied for most winners will split the prize equally.
6 -- Selections must be made by the start of the first Saturday/Sunday game
7 -- $ 10,000 in weekly prizes -- $ 10,000 most winners with no prizes for second or third most winners or most losers
8 -- $ 30,000 in end of season prizes -- Most winners, second most winners, third most winner.
9 -- In the case of end of season ties those ties split the money for the tied places -- i.e. a 2 way tie for most winners will split the first and second place prize equally
10 -- There will be a $100,000 bonus paid to the First Place winner if that person has made at least 200 winning selections (out of the 255 total selections). This works out to a winning percentage of 78.43%.
12 -- IMPORTANT -- All prizes must be claimed IN PERSON with a valid Photo ID and MUST BE COLLECTED BY FEBRUARY 17, 2017


For more specifics it is suggested that you read the OFFICIAL RULES by clicking on the link at the top of this Contest.

This contest is similar in many respects to the very popular LeRoys College Football Contest of the mid 2000's. The Contest involves picking 7 games per week against the pointspread. The Contest lasts 10 weeks such that a total of 70 picks will be made. There are no weekly prizes but there are 3 end-of-season prizes and a Bonus prize if the Contest winner picks at least 70% winners. Contestants will make their 7 selections from a list of 25 games designated by William Hill.

Highlughts of the William Hill Pro Football Contest include --

1 -- Contestant must be 21 years of age and have a "William Hill Rewards Club" Card (issued at no cost) or a William Hill Wagering Account to enter.
2 -- $ 500.oo Entry Fee with a maximum of 3 entries per person allowed. Entries will not be accepted after 8:00 AM Pacific time on Saturday, September 10, 2016. It appears as though Friday and Saturday games will be used.
3 -- Pick 7 games each week against the pointspread posted by William Hill for Contest purposes. Each game will have a half-point attached to the pointspread such that ties, or pushes, are not possible.
4 -- Contest will last 10 weeks beginning on Friday, September 9, 2016 and running through Saturday, November 12, 2016.
5 -- There are no weekly prizes, only end of season prizes.
6 -- Selections may be made up until the time that 7 games remain to start from that week's listed games.
7 -- There is a minimum of $ 25,000 in end of season prizes with any entry fees in excess of $25,000 being added to the Prize Pool. The contestant with the most winners will receive 70% of the prize pool, second most winners will receive 20% and third most winners 10%.
9 -- In the case of end of season ties those ties split the money for the tied places -- i.e. a 2 way tie for most winners will split the first and second place prize equally
10 -- There will be a $25,000 bonus paid to the First Place winner if that person has made at least 49 winning selections (out of the 70 total selections). This works out to a winning percentage of 70.00%.
12 -- IMPORTANT -- All prizes must be claimed IN PERSON with a valid Photo ID and MUST BE COLLECTED BY FEBRUARY 17, 2017


For more specifics it is suggested that you read the OFFICIAL RULES by clicking on the link at the top of this Contest..

FORMAT -- Contestants select 1 College football game each week to win their game against a static contest pointspread that uses half point lines and thus eliminates the possibility of a pointspread "push" or tie. If the selected team wins the contestant advances to the next week. Thursday and Friday games may be included in the Contest in addition to Saturday games. Any game that is not played by Sunday of the scheduled week will be counted as a winner and that contestant will advance to the following week. Contest continues until only one contestant remains. See the PAYOUT section below for more information on how the contest will end.

ENTRY FEE -- $ 25 per entry with a maximum of 4 entries allowed. Entrants must be 21 years of age and have a Boarding Pass Card, or equivalent, issued by a participating Stations propery. Entrants who pay for 4 entries will recieve a fifth entry at no additional cost. The deadline to sign up is Saturday, September 10, 2016 at 7:30 PM Pacific time.

PAYOUT -- The greater of $ 40,000 or 100% of Entry Fees will be awarded to the last contestant to correctly select a winner. If at the end of the 12 weeks there are 2 or more contestants who have not submitted a losing selection the prize pool will be equally split among such contestants. If all remaining contestants are eliminated on the same contest day the prize pool will be equally split among such contestants. HOWEVER -- Note that the Rules do not seem to consider the phrase "same contest day" as meaning the "same contest week" such that if contestants are eliminated on a Thursday, Friday and a Saturday of the same week only the contestants eliminated on that Saturday would win/share the prize pool). I shall try to obtain clarification on this point.

WEEKLY SELECTION SUBMISSION DEADLINE -- Selections must be made prior to the start of the game selected. The Contest Lines for week 1 are expected to be available on Monday, September 5, 2016 with the following weeks' lines available on Wednesdays.

SELECTION SUBMISSION/IDENTIFICATION REQUIRMENTS -- The Official Rules do not specifically address the use of a Proxy to submit a contestant's selection. HOWEVER, Rule # 7 does state "Identification may be required when contest selection is submitted."



ADDITIONAL NOTES --

If the same contestant wins BOTH this College Football Last Man Standing Contest AND the Pro Football Last Man Standing Contest that contestant will win a BONUS of $ 135,000 in addition to the prize pools from both contests.

FORMAT -- Contestants select 1 NFL game each to win their game against a static contest pointspread that uses half point lines and thus eliminates the possibility of a pointspread "push" or tie. If the selected team wins the contestant advances to the next week. Any game that is not played by Monday of the scheduled week will be counted as a winner and that contestant will advance to the following week. Contest continues until only one contestant remains. See the PAYOUT section below for more information on how the contest will end.

ENTRY FEE -- $ 25.oo per entry with a maximum of 4 entries allowed. Entrants must be 21 years of age and have a Boarding Pass Card, or equivalent, issued by a participating Stations propery. Entrants who pay for 4 entries will recieve a fifth entry at no additional cost. The deadline to sign up is Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 9:00 AM Pacific time.

PAYOUT -- The greater of $ 75,000 or 100% of Entry Fees will be awarded to the last contestant to correctly select a winner. If at the end of the 17 week regular season there are 2 or more contestants who have not submitted a losing selection the prize pool will be equally split among such contestants. The Contest will not extend into the NFL Playoffs. If all remaining contestants are eliminated on the same contest day the prize pool will be equally split among such contestants. HOWEVER -- Note that the Rules do not seem to consider the phrase "same contest day" as meaning the "same contest week" such that if all remaining contestants are eliminated on both a Sunday and a Monday of the same week only the contestants eliminated on that Monday night game would win/share the prize pool). I shall try to obtain clarification on this point.

WEEKLY SELECTION SUBMISSION DEADLINE -- Selections must be made prior to the start of the game selected. It appears that all games (including Thursday night games) will be included in the contest although Stations may decide to exclude certain games (though not stated these could be games involving key players with questionable status for which no betting line has been posted). The Contest Lines for week 1 are expected to be available on Monday, September 5, 2016 with the following weeks' lines available on Wednesdays.

SELECTION SUBMISSION/IDENTIFICATION REQUIRMENTS -- The Official Rules do not specifically address the use of a Proxy to submit a contestant's selection. HOWEVER, Rule # 7 does state "Identification may be required when contest selection is submitted."



ADDITIONAL NOTES --

If the same contestant wins BOTH this Pro Football Last Man Standing Contest AND the College Football Last Man Standing Contest that contestant will win a BONUS of $ 135,000 in addition to the prize pools from both contests.

Since moving to Las Vegas in 1991 Andy Iskoe of Logical Approach has entered many of the football contests offered and sponsored by the Sports Books in Las Vegas.

In fact, in 2016 he has entered the Super Contest for a 26th consecutive season!

In addition to having had great success as a contestant in most of these contests over the years, he has also been a Proxy for contestants who live out of town and are not able to make the weekly selections in person at the various Sports Books.

In 2016 he shall again be offering his services as a Proxy for contestants who are unable to submit selections in person.

The key to an effective Proxy/Contestant relationship is communication.

Over the years Andy has developed an organized, structured and sensible system for disseminating and receiving contest selection information with the contestants for whom he has served as Proxy. Details of that system are explained below, both before and after the descriptions of most of the major weekly football contests that shall be offerred for 2016.

The Proxy procedure is similar for all contests with minor variations due to time and/or deadline variations that will vary according to the specific contest.

Using the Westgate NFL Super Contest as an example emails are sent on Wednesday evenings by Andy Iskoe to the contestants for whom he is a Proxy. The email will contain information related to the contest lines for the upcoming week's games (to be released by 5 PM Pacific time Wednesdays), the contestant's results for the previous week and season-to-date results and the overall standings for all contestants (including information on the status of the contestants currently in "cashing" position -- Top 50 and ties).

The contestant is then responsible for providing Andy with his/her 5 contest selections by either email or telephone (or both) by 6 PM Pacific Time on FRIDAY evening (or at a later time as mutually agreed upon) so that the selections may be submitted to the LVH safely in advance of the LVH's official Saturday 11 AM deadline.

The Fee charged for the Proxy Service is agreed upon with each contestant and is based upon the specific contest or combination of contests entered, the number of entries, the complexities of "administering" your weekly entries/selections, and other factors. The Fee is generall a flat, up front one time fee with no requirement to share a percentage of any winnings earned by the contestant.