Circa Survivor Pool Sheds 56% of Entries in Week One

Posted on: September 13, 2022, 10:35h. 

Last updated on: September 14, 2022, 12:34h.

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

The first week of the 2022 NFL season was marked by a common theme: Upsets. That had a profound impact on the Circa Survivor landscape.

Circa Survivor
Circa Sportsbook in Downtown Las Vegas. The operator’s survivor contest lost 56.2% of contestants in the first week of NFL action. (Image: LA Times)

Last Saturday was contestants’ final day to enter the famed football contest, and when the closing bell rang, there were 6,133 entries. By the time the Seattle Seahawks vanquished the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football last night, just 2,685 entries remained in Circa Survivor.

Translation: It took just one week of NFL action for 3,448 entries, or 56.2% of the field, to be eliminated. No rebuys are allowed after week one, but contestants that picked the losing team in Thursday Night Football — in this case, the defending Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams — can buy another entry if they did so by last Saturday’s deadline.

A spokeswoman for Circa told Casino.org that one participant opted for a rebuy after the Rams were crushed by the Buffalo Bills last Thursday.

Underdogs Crush Circa Survivor Contestants

The first week of the 2022 NFL campaign was one for the dogs. As in, many underdogs didn’t just cover spreads — they won outright.

In the process, Circa Survivor participants were crushed. Owing to an opening tilt against the often hapless New York Jets, the Baltimore Ravens were the most-picked team in Circa Survivor, and they delivered for the 1,662 contestants that picked them, beating the Jets by 15 points.

However, nearly 2,800 of the 3,448 departed entries were foiled by either the Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, San Francisco 49ers, or the Tennessee Titans. Those teams, widely expected to be playoff contenders, all lost on Sunday to teams expected to be among the worst in the league this year.

The Chicago Bears, New York Giants, and the Seahawks dispatched the 49ers, Titans, and Broncos. That’s while the Colts tying the Houston Texans punished Circa Survivor participants because the contest treats ties the same as losses.

Speaking of ties, the Super Bowl runner-up Cincinnati Bengals nearly flirted with that distinction against the Pittsburgh Steelers. But a series of Bengals special team miscues allowed the Steelers to prevail, dispatching 460 Survivor entries, or 7.5% of the pool.

Overall, 464 contestants opted for the Bengals or Rams in week one. That’s interesting because Circa pays out a $1 million bonus to the winning entry if that participant resists picking the prior year’s Super Bowl teams until the season’s final week.

Other Circa Survivor Odds and Ends

While the Las Vegas Raiders are Sin City’s NFL team, and it’s reasonable to assume plenty of Circa Survivor participants live somewhere in Nevada, the silver and black were one of seven teams not selected by contestants last week.

Still, the team is a potential liability for Nevada sportsbooks this year, with plenty of bettors plunking down bets on the team to make and win the Super Bowl.

Just 25, or 0.4%, of Circa Survivor players, profited from the Raiders’ Week One loss, picking the Los Angeles Chargers to beat their longtime AFC West rival.