Circa Survivor contest pacing for record $20 million prize pool

Circa Sports’ flagship NFL contest, Circa Survivor, is on track to surpass a $20 million prize pool, setting a new record ahead of the 2025 NFL season. The surge in entries puts the contest well above its $15 million guarantee and last year’s $14.2 million prize.

There were 4,100 entries in the $1,000-entry contest on Sunday, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. There were 2,800 entries on the same day last year en route to a record 14,266 entries.

“We’re pacing just a little over 40 percent up,” said Mike Palm, vice president of operations at Circa, D Las Vegas, and Golden Gate. “If we can maintain this pace, it would put us just over $20 million for our prize pool.”

The Circa Survivor format requires contestants to pick one straight-up NFL winner each week, without a point spread, and restricts the use of each team to once. The contest spans 20 legs, including all 18 regular-season weeks plus Thanksgiving/Black Friday and Christmas matchups.

Last year’s contest is the subject of a new 10-episode docuseries, “Circa Survivor: The Quest For $14.2 Million,” which will stream starting Tuesday at 6 p.m. on VSiN.com and YouTube TV.

Circa is also debuting a high-stakes version of its Survivor contest, dubbed Grandissimo, with a $100,000 buy-in and $1.5 million guaranteed to the winner. The contest has already received 11 entries and requires at least 15 to meet the prize threshold.

“I was very confident that there was no shot there wouldn’t be 15 entries in this. If there wasn’t, poker players would come and gobble up the overlay,” Palm said, as per the Review-Journal report. “But if you’d had told me there would be 11 on Aug. 1, I’d have been shocked, because (I thought) people aren’t going to put $100,000 up until a week or two out.

Palm set an informal over/under at 30.5 entries and suggested the contest could reach as many as 40 participants.

Meanwhile, Circa Million VII - the operator’s spread-based NFL contest - is performing on par with last year’s totals. The 2024 edition drew 5,817 entries, and 6,000 are needed this year to meet the $6 million prize pool guarantee. Players must make five weekly picks against the spread throughout the season.

“That seems to be the sweet spot right there at $6 million,” Palm said.

Circa will host its annual Football Preview event on August 23 at 2 p.m. in the Galaxy Ballroom. Speakers will include professional sports bettor Chuck Edel, NBC Sports Bet analyst Drew Dinsick, NFL analyst Sam Monson, and former NFL wide receiver Mike Pritchard.