Circa Million, Survivor to Feature Record $14M Payout

Posted on: May 25, 2023, 03:10h. 

Last updated on: May 26, 2023, 02:38h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.

Circa Sports’ famed football contests, the Circa Million and Circa Survivor, will have a combined record payout of $14 million this season.

Circa Survivor
Circa Sportsbook in downtown Las Vegas. The operator is promising record payouts for its Million and Survivor NFL picks contests. (Image: Las Vegas Weekly)

The Las Vegas-based casino and sportsbook operator announced in a statement Thursday. This season will mark the fifth iteration of the increasingly popular NFL contests. Last year’s combined guaranteed payout was $12 million. The guaranteed payout for Circa Survivor is $8 million, while the promised prize pool for the against-the-spread Million contest is $6 million. Circa doesn’t take a rake on either contest.

The Survivor prize pool could increase depending on the number of entries. Last year, the contest lured 6,133 participants, meaning the prize pool was $6.13 million. Should Circa Million V entries top $6 million, excess funds are used for quarter- and full-season payouts to winning participants.

In 2022, roughly 4,700 contestants signed up for Circa Million IV, meaning the operator faced an overlay north of $1 million. Each entry for both contests is $1,000. This year, there’s a limit of five Circa Million entries per person, while Survivor participation is capped at 10 entries per player.

Circa Million Details

Success in the Circa Million is largely rooted in participants’ handicapping ability because it’s an against-the-spread contest.

Each player will make five professional football picks against the spread each week via the Circa Sports Nevada mobile app or in person at a Nevada Circa Sports location. One point will be awarded for each correct selection and one-half point for each push,” according to the statement.

Circa Sports offers mobile sports betting in Colorado, Iowa, and soon, Illinois, in addition to Nevada. But picks for the contestants must be placed in Nevada. Various proxy services in Las Vegas cater to football contestant participants who reside in other states.

“$3.65 million will be allocated amongst places two through 100, and $300,000 of prizes per quarter will be awarded every four to five weeks. The last place booby prize winner will receive $100,000, and the second-to-last place booby prize winner will receive $50,000,” added Circa Sports.

Circa Survivor Particulars

Circa Survivor often draws more entries than its Million counterpart because it requires players to select one NFL winner each week, not against the spread. There’s a perception that it’s an easy endeavor. It’s not, as highlighted by the fact that Survivor bled 56% of its entries in Week 1 of the 2022 NFL campaign.

Other details make Survivor challenging, including that participants can only select a team once throughout the season. The contest runs across 20 weeks, not the 17-week NFL regular-season schedule. In Circa Survivor, the NFL’s Thanksgiving/Black Friday and Christmas Day slates are considered their own weeks.

“Entries are eliminated from the contest by selecting a team that subsequently loses or ties its game that week. If more than one entry remains after 20 legs, the pool will be split equally amongst all the entries that successfully submitted a selection during the leg,” concluded Circa.