UPDATED 9.7.11: Now, we’re ready!

LIKE MANY OF the pro football teams during preseason, we don’t quite yet have all the details worked out for this blog post. But like any team with a serious title shot, we do have most key components in place to tell you about now.

Continuing an awkward analogy, our quarterback – the Great Giveaway Las Vegas football contest – is all set. GG has been voted the Best Football Contest in Las Vegas 17 years in a row by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. That’s even more impressive than Indianapolis’ current streak of playoff appearances (which stands at how many years in a row? anyone?). Well, we will continue to add to this post and before the season kicks off we will have all our Xs and Os covered, but for now let’s go, and feel free to ask any questions below.

$2 M. GREAT GIVEAWAY FOOTBALL CONTEST

• Sign-ups (you need a player’s card) start today and end (to be eligible for end-of-season prizes) on Sept. 11 – which is the Sunday of Week 1 but please, please don’t wait that long – at 17 Sports Book locations including all Station Casinos, Fiestas and Wildfire properties as well as (new this year!) the El Cortez downtown. That was a long sentence. Here’s our Sports Book hours for GG registration before and during the season.
• Still $25 for one entry, buy two get third free.
• Big weekly winners get a Camaro or Silverado or cash. Big, big winners get houses at the end of season.
• There’s a Fiddle-in-the-Middle cash payout for the 500 Club and a “no lose” guarantee if you don’t win any prize all year and made your picks every week.
• What else? You can still check your picks and records at www.mygreatgiveaway.com.

Let the trash-talking begin!
We started a Great Giveaway page on facebook

$1 BUDS/$1 DOGS
Yes, worry not, there will be $1 Budweiser beers and $1 hot dogs during all live televised football games inside any Station Casinos Sports Book and at the El Cortez on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. Yum!

LAST MAN STANDING
The winner-takes-all contests for college and pro are on again. Let’s bullet point it:

• $25 per entry. Buy four, get one free.
• Pro winner gets a guaranteed $75,000. College $25,000. Win both (yer good!) and double it to $200K. Last year the cash prizes came out to be significantly more than the guarantee (keep reading).
• The sign-up deadline for college is Sept. 10 at 7 pm. For pro, Sept. 11 at 9am.
• Last year the winner for LMS College was decided after Week 9, she, yes she, won $38,375. Last year’s LMS Pro winner lasted until Week 12, beat nearly 4,000 entries and won $80,350!

SPORTS CONNECTION
If you live in the area, you can bet sports online in Las Vegas with Sports Connection. Pretty sweet.

PARLAY CARDS
OK, the $1 Million Parlays cards, for $5, on Wednesday and Friday are back.

We know, we know, 20-for-20 not easy, but it shouldn’t be for $1 Million! Also got 15-for-15 for $100,000.

Also, also, all our other Parlay and Teaser cards on this poster to the right here.

Any questions, let us know below!

MONDAY FOOTBALL PARTIES
We made a separate post for these here.

FOOTBALL FUN IN OUR POKER ROOMS
We asked our Poker Managers what’s happening in their rooms during football. Here’s what they had to say:

Steve from Boulder Station: For our 17th Annual Football Squares we’re giving out 100 squares on Sunday and 100 squares on Monday. Each Quarter on Sunday, and the final score, gets $50 in cash. On Monday, we give $100 each quarter and $100 for the final score. Must be present to win and if no winner the money rolls over to the next week, Sunday to Sunday and Monday to Monday (same quarter). How to earn Squares:

1. A designated hand posted in the Poker Room earns one Square.
2. Players must have at least Aces full or better in Omaha and at lease Jacks full or better in Hold’em. They will get one Square for each high hand.

We will have one board for the Championship Game.

Frank from GVR: Our football promo is simply this: We currently pay out for four-of-a-kind high hands (the amount the hand is worth progresses daily). We plan on picking three specific pro games on Sunday (10am, 1pm and 5:30pm) and the Monday night game, and during those games if a player receives a qualifying Four-of-a-Kind high hand we will pay the player double the amount on the board.

Theresa at Texas Station: For football, we have Splash the Pot! Sunday’s following our tournament, we splash the 1pm game and Monday the night game. Poker room is the home team. When the home team scores a touchdown we splash $50 … field goal  $25 … safety $100.

Janet from Palace Station:  For Sunday and Monday games, first three quarters start at $50, final quarter $100 (must be playing Poker to win). If no winner, the money rolls over to the following week with $50/$100 added. Aces full or better earns a square.

Mike from Red Rock: We will have a separate Football Pool Board for Sunday morning, Sunday night and Monday morning. Each week there will be 100 squares offered for each board. Hold’em player get squares for any Royal Flush, any Straight Flush and any Four-of-a-Kind. For Omaha players, any Royal Flush and any Straight Flush. Random numbers will be put on the Football Pool Board with the first three-quarter winners getting $50 each and Final Score winner getting $50.

David from Santa Fe Station: Typical football squares with 100 squares total. Players earn squares Tuesday-Saturday of each week by hitting high hands. Each column (home team) and row (away team) on the Squares Board will be randomly numbered 0-9. Each quarter the last number of the home team’s score and the last number of the away team’s score correspond with a square on the board. If the player is here, they win the amount shown. If no one claims, the square amount goes up by $50. This happens three games per week for the regular pro season.

Elaine from Sunset Station: We have Football Squares for the Sunday games (1:15pm and 5:20pm), and the Monday night game at 5:30pm. Earn squares during the week with Aces full or better. Players will pick the game for squares they earn. Players earn 2 squares for squares earned between 2am-10am. Each quarter, in each game, is worth at least $50 to the player whose square has the score at the end of the quarter. Player must be present and playing to win. If the money for the quarter is not paid out it is added to payout for the same quarter in the next week’s game. (For example, if the $50 for the 1st Quarter in the 1:15 game on Sunday is not paid, the 1st Quarter of next Sunday’s 1:15 game will be worth $100.)

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The 16 Station Casinos’ properties offering all of these great football contests include: Aliante Station, Boulder Station, Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho, Green Valley Ranch, Palace Station, Red Rock Resort, Santa Fe Station, Sunset Station, Texas Station, Wild Wild West, Gold Rush, Barley’s, Wildfire Casino Boulder, Wildfire Casino Rancho and Wildfire Casino & Lanes. Additionally, the El Cortez Hotel & Casino’s sport book is now managed by Station Casinos and will be included in all Station Casinos’ football contests.