Circa Sports' pro football contests conclude with record-breaking $12M in payouts

Last week, Las Vegas-based sports betting brand Circa Sports' professional football contests – Circa Million IV and Circa Survivor – concluded the 2022-2023 season by awarding $12 million total in prizes. Circa Survivor broke professional football contest records with the highest individual payouts ever with two checks for over $3 million each, notes the company, while Circa Million IV delivered $6 million in prizes and awarded $1 million to the first-place finisher.

Derek Stevens, CEO of Circa Sports, said: "The fourth iteration of our pro football contests turned out to be the most historic yet. The energy and excitement were unmatched all season long, and we even had a few of the winners catch their final games in the world's largest sportsbook at Circa. We congratulate the winners and can't wait to have the contest return bigger and better than ever for its fifth year."

Derek Stevens speaking at the check presentation

During a special check presentation event at the D Las Vegas, Stevens and his Circa Sports team presented mutiple checks, with highlights including:

• $3,066,500 individual checks for Circa Survivor winners BROWNA-1 and JED-4.
• $1 million for first place in Circa Million IV won by CHIEF-3, consisting of four friends from Michigan who entered the contest together.
• Second place check for Circa Million IV for $500,000 won by SEAN 1923-2
• Booby prize for the last place included a prize of $100,000 for Big Booty Juedys-1
• A second-place booby prize was won by four contestants and included checks for $12,500 for contestants Pisces1326, STONEY-1, Sunday Best-1, and Super Frog-2.

This season, Circa Million IV delivered $6 million in guaranteed total prizes, with a $1 million first-place prize that came with a handmade Circa Sports blue jacket. The contest included no rake, and any extra fees went into the quarter- and full-season prize pools.

$3.65 million was allocated amongst places two through 100 and $300,000 of prizes per quarter were awarded every four to five weeks. The last place booby prize winner received $100,000 and the second to last place booby prize winner received $50,000. 

During the contest, each player made five professional football picks against the spread each week. One point was awarded for each correct selection and one-half point for each push. Each entry for Circa Million IV was $1,000, with a maximum of three entries per person. 

Meanwhile, Circa Survivor returned with a hefty $6 million payout for the last entry standing. The contest consisted of up to 20 legs throughout the year, one for every week of the football season plus two special weeks. Each week, participants chose one different team to win straight up, but the player couldn't pick the same team twice for the duration of the season.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were each considered their own contest weeks. Entries were $1,000 each, with a maximum of six entries per participant. Entries were eliminated from the contest by selecting a team that subsequently lost or ties its game in a week. When more than one entry remained after 20 legs, the pool was split equally amongst all the two entries that successfully submitted a selection during the leg.

Bettors were able to sign-up for the contests at any of Circa Sports' six Nevada locations and entries for bettors outside of Nevada could register a proxy to submit picks from within the state, the company explains.

Yogonet held an exclusive video interview with Circa's Derek Stevens earlier this month, in which he discussed pent-up Las Vegas demand, the company's expansion plans, and the state of sports betting. You can revisit it here.