Circa Sports is going to be minting one, potentially two millionaires this NFL season with the return of the NFL betting contests Circa Millions and Circa Survivor.
This year, however, the gang at Circa has gone into the deep end of the ocean, massively expanding the prize pool with $10 million in guaranteed prizes spread out among the two contests. They’ve also made both contests rake-free, so all money spent by contestants will go back out to the winners.
“The demand for our contests in the past years was so high we knew we needed to come back bigger and better than ever,” said Circa Sports CEO Derek Stevens in a press release. “Last year we guaranteed $3 million in payouts for Circa Million and we’re pushing $4 million this year. Survivor was $1 million, and we’re bringing it to $6 million this year for the largest survivor contest ever.”
Sign-ups for both contests will begin Friday, May 28 at all Circa Sports Nevada locations and the in-state mobile app. For people outside Nevada, players can register a proxy to place the picks during the season from inside Nevada, which requires an in-person appearance to establish.
Two pools, $10 million in prizes
THE WAIT IS OVER! 🏈🏆🙌
Here are @DerekJStevens @MikePalmCirca and @JeffreyBenson12 with our #CircaSportsMillion and #CircaSurvivor football contest details including $10 MILLION in guaranteed prizes!
— Circa Sports (@CircaSports) May 27, 2021
First up, the Survivor pool. It will consist of 20 legs throughout the regular season (all 18 weeks, plus the Thanksgiving and Christmas slates). Players will pick one winner, straight-up, each week, and can’t pick the same team twice. Entries cost $1,000 apiece, with a maximum of six entries per person. While it’s possible numerous players can split the top prize, anyone who goes 20-0 will take home a guaranteed $1 million bonus.
Circa Millions III will consist of players picking five NFL games against the spread each week. This is a three-max entry contest at $1,000 per entry. The top prize is $1 million, and there will also be quarterly winners.
Increasingly crowded field
Football handicapping contests have long been a Las Vegas mainstay, and helped grow the popularity of sports betting.
The Westgate Las Vegas’s SuperBook has been running its famed SuperContest since 1988, but has not yet announced the prize pool and entry fees for 2021.
DraftKings has also gotten into the game, running a $4 million “Millionaire Pick ‘Em,” also five games a week against the spread. Entries are $1,500, and the contest runs from weeks 1 through 17, with contestants able to take a week off. They are also running a $333-to-enter Survivor pool, with $1 million going to the winner.
