Circa Sports raises the stakes with new high-roller NFL handicapping contest Circa Grandissimo

Circa Sports is raising the stakes on its popular NFL handicapping contests, having increased the guaranteed prize money for its $1,000-entry Circa Survivor from $10 million last year to a record $15 million this year. But the sportsbook is also adding a new high-roller $100,000-entry Survivor contest, called Circa Grandissimo.

Named after a planned hotel-casino by Caesars Palace founder Jay Sarno that never came to fruition, the Grandissimo is set to feature the same basic rules as Survivor. However, the contest has a guaranteed prize of $1.5 million to the winner, and the maximum number of entries is two, down from the 10 available in Survivor.

Each Grandissimo entry includes a luxury vacation at Circa featuring a three-night stay in a Founder’s Suite, round-trip JSX flight to and from Las Vegas, limo transportation to and from the airport, dining experiences at Barry’s Downtown Prime and Andiamo Steakhouse, and more.

“We’ve always known that there is a demand for a higher-stakes Circa Survivor with fewer contestants in it,” Circa owner Derek Stevens said, as per a Las Vegas Review-Journal report. “Grandissimo, to me, represents a blend of Las Vegas and the biggest, the best, and the most luxurious. I just thought it was an appropriate term for the largest football contest in history.”

Circa's ambitious plans come as its contests see increasing interest from football fans. Survivor drew 14,266 entries, more than 10 times as many entries as it did in 2020, for a record $14,266,000 in prize money last season that was split by eight winners. In the contest, contestants pick one straight-up NFL winner — no point spread involved — each week, but can use each team only once.

The Survivor contest will need 15,000 entries to meet the guarantee, while the Grandissimo will need 15. There is no rake or house cut in either contest, with all entry fees going into the prize pool.

Meanwhile, the brand's $1,000 entry Circa Million VII — in which contestants make five weekly picks against the spread in the 18-week NFL season — will again feature $6 million in guaranteed payouts. The contest needs 6,000 entries to meet the guarantee, but fell short last year with a record 5,817 entries. The limit for entries in Million is five.

Sign-ups open at 9 a.m. Friday and run through 2 p.m., Sept. 6 at Circa, the D Las Vegas, Tuscany, The Pass, Silverton, and Legends Bay. People outside Nevada can enter the contests and have their weekly selections made through a proxy.