Basque pelota for betting, during the 80's and 90's Jai-Alai was especially popular in Miami and Florida where the frontons had press boxes, restaurants, and going to the Jai-Alai was seen to be a privilege. Men often came in suits and women came in elaborate dresses for the "special event". Nowadays Jai-Alai has dropped in popularity instead of thousands of people who came to watch now there are barely a couple hundred. Pelota is usually played in the Basque regions of south-western France and north-eastern Spain, where it originates. There are also federations of Basque ball in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Costa
Basque pelota Rica, Cuba, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Philippines, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, United States, Venezuela, Netherlands, Sweden, India and Greece. Due to the origin of the game, there are many good players who are Basques, either natives or from the Basque diaspora. Basque pelota was an official Olympic sport once, in the 1900 Paris Games, and a demonstration sport in 1924 (men), 1968 (men) and 1992 (men and women). See also Basque pelota at the 1900 Summer Olympics. In the 1900 Paris Games there were only two teams competing, France and Spain. The Spanish team: