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Circa Sports’ two football contests produced a total of five millionaires. In total, Circa paid $15.2 million to winning contestants in its two pro football contests.
The payout is more than the downtown Las Vegas casino operator guaranteed. The two football contests that started in 2023 had a guaranteed prize pool of at least $14 million.
The Circa Survivor contest had 9,267 entries at $1,000 each. Four Circa Survivor contest winners split $9,267,000 in prize money. Each winner of the weekly survivor contest will take home just over $2.3 million from Circa.
Meanwhile, the Circa Millions handicapping contest had 5,274 entries at $1,000 apiece. Circa Sports guaranteed $6 million for contestants regardless if there was an overlay. The grand prize winner will receive the $1 million prize.
CEO Derek Stevens and the Circa Sports team will celebrate Circa Survivor, Circa Million V full season, and Circa Million V fourth quarter winners. The final check presentation is planned for Friday, Jan. 12 at The D Las Vegas at 6 p.m.
Circa Survivor contest prize goes above guarantee
The entry fee for the Circa Survivor was $1,000. Each participant could have as many as 10 entries.
Circa Sports had a guaranteed prize of at least $8 million for this contest. Since Circa doesn’t charge an administration fee, all money received from entries is returned to the participants.
This year there were 9,267 entries. The total for the winner-take-all prize pool was $9.267 million thanks to the record-breaking number of entries. The grand prize pool for Circa Survivor was more than $1 million above the guarantee.
Four entries made it through the season making correct choices. All four players tied for the grand prize of more than $9 million. The winning entries were:
- Circus Master
- IndianaJet
- JAX JAGS
- LAJONESER
When the participants with the winning entries split the prize four ways, each will win about $2.3 million from Circa.
USA Today reported that the quartet had “an agreement in place to chop the pot no matter who won” before the last week of the season. This guaranteed each participant would win at least $2 million.
Circa’s NFL Survivor contest is a unique take on a weekly picks contest. Like other survivor contests, participants select one team to win each week. Once an entry selects a team it cannot be used again.
Unlike other contests, Circa Survivor has additional “weeks” included. This year participants had to choose a team for games played on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Most other survivor contests just use the 18-week NFL calendar.
The Circa Survivor contest continues to grow in popularity. The simplicity of only selecting one team to win without using a point spread and the contest and large prize pool have made this the more popular of Circa’s two football contests.
This year’s record-breaking number of entries outpaced last year’s 6,133 entries by more than 3,000.
Circa Millions contest delivers one millionaire
While there’s only one prize for the survivor contest, there are more than 100 throughout the season in Circa Millions. Once again, the first-place finisher took home $1 million.
The entry of Saint31 was the big winner this year. In addition to the $1 million prize, he’ll take home the coveted Circa Sports Blue Jacket.
This year there were 5,274 entries in the Circa Millions contest. Each entry was $1,000 so Circa only collected $5.27 million in fees.
Due to not meeting the guarantee, participants in Circa Millions had a small overlay in the contest which guaranteed $6 million in prizes. In this case, the overlay was the $730,000 difference between how much money was in the pool versus the guaranteed prize.
Circa Millions dishes out six prizes each quarter. The entries with the top five most points receive a prize. The entry with the fewest points in the contest for the quarter also receives a prize.
The contest also pays the top 100 entries as well as the participant with the fewest points for the entire season.
Circa Millions is a traditional Las Vegas pro football handicapping contest. Participants make five picks every week against a static spread revealed the Wednesday before the games.
After the contests were over, Stevens said:
“When we launched these contests, we knew the prize needed to be one of the most coveted in all of sports betting. Every year we’ve upped the ante, and this was the biggest level-up of all. Congratulations to all the winners and we look forward to seeing what the 2024/2025 season brings.”
Look for Circa football contest growth next season
Circa has not revealed registration information for the 2024 football contests. Last year, signups for Circa Millions and Circa Survivor started around Memorial Day Weekend. Registration ended just before the NFL kicked off the 2023 season in September.
It would not be surprising to see the Circa contests grow next season. While Circa Resort and Casino in downtown Las Vegas is still the epicenter of activity, there’s another new Las Vegas location for contestants to register for either or both contests.
On Jan. 1, Circa Sports assumed operation of the Silverton sportsbook in the southwest part of Las Vegas. There are now six Circa Sports full-service and satellite sportsbooks in Nevada for contestants to register:
- Circa Las Vegas (Downtown Las Vegas)
- The D (Downtown Las Vegas)
- Legends Bay Casino (Sparks, NV)
- The Pass Casino (Henderson)
- Silverton Casino Lodge (Southwest Las Vegas)
- Tuscany Suites and Casino (Near Vegas Strip)
The new location will make it easier for contestants to sign up for either or both Circa football contests.
Participants don’t have to live in Nevada to enter Circa Sports football contests even though picks have to be placed weekly in the Silver State. Out-of-state players can hire a proxy service to place weekly selections after registering for the contest(s) in person.
