Circa Sports' pro football contests return with largest-ever payout of $14M

Circa Sports' professional football contests Circa Million V and Circa Survivor are returning, featuring their largest payout ever of $14 million. The sports betting company is breaking its own guarantee record for the fifth year of its popular contests, with sign-ups beginning today at all Circa Sports Nevada locations.

The $14 million guarantee payout, no rake, marks the highest prize purse ever for this type of sports betting contest, according to Circa. For the 2023-2024 season, Circa Million V returns with a $6 million guarantee, while Circa Survivor’s pool has been raised to $8 million.

“We always want to keep raising the stakes for our football contests and knew we had to go big for the fifth year,” said Circa Sports CEO Derek Stevens. “Last year, we gave away $12 million in prizes so to up the pool by $2 million is an exciting feeling for our team. We can’t wait to get the season started this September.”

Sign-ups begin today, Thursday, at all Circa Sports Nevada locations and are open until September 9 at 2 p.m. during the first week of the professional football season. The locations include Circa Resort & Casino; the D Las Vegas; Tuscany Suites & Casino; The Pass at Water Street; and Legends Bay Casino.

Circa Million V

Circa Million V will deliver $6 million guaranteed in total prizes, with a $1 million first-place prize that comes with a Circa Sports blue jacket. The contest has no rake, and any extra fees go into the quarter- and full-season prize pools.

$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.

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. Each entry for Circa Million V is $1,000, with a maximum of five entries per person. All entrants also will receive a Circa Million V hat.

Full-season cash prizes will be awarded to the top 100 places, the last place and the second-to-last place. Each quarter cash prizes will be awarded to the top five places and the last place score.

Contest point spreads will be posted every Thursday around 10 a.m. PST, with selections due by 4 p.m. Saturday. During Thanksgiving week, point spreads will be posted at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Circa Survivor

Circa Survivor returns with a payout of $8 million for the last entry standing. The contest has no rake, so the last remaining entry wins the entire Circa Survivor pool of $8 million guaranteed, plus more if entries exceed this amount, noted Circa.

Circa Survivor will consist of up to 20 legs throughout the year, one for every week of the football season plus two special weeks. Each week, participants will choose a team to win straight up, but the player cannot pick the same team twice for the duration of the season. Thanksgiving/Black Friday and Christmas Day will each be considered their own contest weeks, says Circa.

Entries are $1,000 each, with a maximum of 10 entries per participant. An entrant can purchase up to 10 additional entries if they lose their original entries on the opening Thursday night game. However, they cannot go into the Saturday deadline with more than 10 active entries. All with Circa Million V, entrants will also receive a Circa Survivor hat.

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.

During the season, picks are due at 4 p.m. PST every Saturday or before kickoff for the selected game. For Thanksgiving/Black Friday, picks are due by 10 p.m. PST the preceding Wednesday night. For Christmas Day, picks are due by 9 a.m. PST on Monday, December 25. 

"Entries for participants outside of Nevada can register a proxy to submit picks from within the state," Circa Sports noted in a statement. "Proxies must be present at the time of registration. "