Super Sums For Super Pools

Millions of football fans will be busy Sunday rooting for their favorite team in the 31st annual Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers. But plenty of South Fork residents, like fans throughout the nation, will be closely watching another contest that has become as much a tradition for the football championship as turkey has for Thanksgiving - the Super Bowl pool.

Though found mostly at bars, such pools also exist in workplaces, some restaurants, even a local barbershop. Some establishments begin selling boxes, or chances, in their pools months ahead of the January event (one is even advertising boxes for next year's Super Bowl now). Chances range from The Star's $1-a-box employee game to a local bar's $500-a-shot, $20,000-grand-prize con test.

Barred At Bars

All told, pretty hefty sums are being wagered here, judging from a sampling of seven local establishments called by The Star. The total wagers of just those seven amount to more than $100,000. Add in the bars not contacted and the pools at workplaces and private bets, and we're talking big bucks.

Super Bowl pools straddle a fine line in terms of legality. For the pool not to be considered illegal gambling, the person or persons sponsoring it may not take a cut or percentage, and all monies must be distributed to the winners.

While according to the State Penal Law, "technically they are legal," East Hampton Town Police Captain Todd Sarris noted, a different state law - the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law - prohibits any form of gambling in establishments that serve alcohol. However, enforcement is admittedly very lax.

"They don't enforce, unless they receive a complaint," Captain Sarris said.

Maris Hart, a public relations officer for the State Liquor Authority, would not comment on how many complaints, if any, the agency has received in the past.

Pure Luck

No need to worry about point spreads in Super Bowl pools; winning them is a matter of pure luck. Randomly assigned numbers determine who wins.

For the uninitiated, here's how it works: First, make a square grid of 100 boxes, 10 boxes across and 10 down. Each box is sold until the grid is full, at which time numbers are assigned by the luck of the draw of 10 cards - the ace through 10, 10 being zero.

The cards are shuffled and then dealt, once for across and once for down. Only now do players know what their numbers are. Though it is a random selection, because of how football is scored those lucky enough to get certain numbers and certain combinations - zeros and sevens are among the best - will have better chances of winning.

Four Prizes

Generally four prizes are awarded per pool, though the ones with costlier boxes and bigger prizes get more complicated. In those with four prizes, winnings go to those with the score (if it's in the double digits the second digit is used) at the end of the first, second, and third quarters and the final score.

Example: At the end of the first quarter, the score is Patriots 7, Packers 0. Patriots are at the top of the grid, Packers along the side. Go across to where the 7 lies, and then down to where the zero fell, and whoever wrote their name in that box is the winner.

Fearing possible legal repercussions, South Fork bartenders and bar owners were understandably reluctant to be quoted on the record about their Super Bowl pools.

But Vinnie Mazzeo, the owner of Vinnie's Barbershop in Amagansett, who has one of the East End's more popular pools, doesn't have to worry about the Liquor Authority. He said he starts selling boxes in his $100 pool in July, when "most of the people are making their money," so they can afford it. That pool filled up two weeks ago, Mr. Mazzeo said.

Another, less expensive pool, with $20 boxes, started selling in September and filled up in about six weeks. Not just men, he said, but women and grandmothers too buy boxes in the pools, which Mr. Mazzeo said he's been doing for 20 years. "It's fun. . . . I like doing them," he said.

Winnings can be small or big. One local bar will have a final $1-a-box the day of the Super Bowl. Other pools are set at $2, $10, $20, $25, $50, $100, and - the biggest wager found on the South Fork - $500 per box. Almost all of the boxes are sold out by now, though as of Tuesday evening a few spaces could be found. Most bars expect a good-sized crowd for the football game, which will be played in New Orleans Sunday afternoon.

High Stakes

The biggest pool The Star could find, at a popular East Hampton bar, brings in a total of $50,000 in bet monies (at $500 per box) and offers more than just the standard four chances of winning. The prizes are: first quarter, $2,000, second quarter, $8,000, third quarter $2,000, and final score, $20,000.

Then those who have the reverse numbers of the score (say 0 and 7 when the score is 7-0) win $1,000 in the first quarter, $3,000 in the second, $1,000 in the third, and $5,000 final score. Also, whoever gets stuck with the unlikely combinations of 2/2, 5/5, and 8/8 each get $1,000.

In his barbershop pool, excitement gets the best of some winners, Mr. Mazzeo said.

"Some guys come right to my house," where Mr. Mazzeo said he has a party and his own family pool, "but most wait until work the next day."