Circa Survivor prize guarantee increased to $8 million

By Dave Tuley (VSiN.com) Follow @ViewFromVegas

May 27, 2023 10:15 PM

Circa Sports owner Derek Stevens announced guarantees of $8 million for Circa Survivor IV — an increase of $2 million — and $6 million for Circa Sports Million V as the popular $1,000 buy-in contests opened Thursday morning for the 2023 NFL season.

Stevens, along with Circa VP Mike Palm, made their annual appearance on VSiN’s “Follow the Money” program to publicize the much-anticipated guarantees as well as new rule changes from previous year.

See rules for both contests below, but the most notable changes besides the prize money:

10 entries allowed in Survivor, up from 6
5 entries allowed in Million, up from 3
In Survivor, the Thanksgiving and Black Friday games are combined into one week and the Christmas Day schedule is its own week for a total of 20 weeks

Last season, both contests had $6 million guarantees with Survivor (which requires contestants to pick 1 NFL straight-up winner each week without using the same team twice) drawing a Nevada NFL contest record 6,133 entries. The record $6.133 million prize pool was split by two entries using the aliases of BROWNA and JED for record payouts of $3,066,500 as they went undefeated at 20-0 during the 18-week NFL season, plus bonus Thanksgiving and Christmas “weeks.” A third contestant, THE ENEMY WITHIN, was eliminated on the final day, but also shared an undisclosed amount with a pre-arranged chop among the remaining contestants.

Last year’s Circa Sports Million (pick 5 NFL games against the spread each week from status contest lines) drew 4,691 entries, so Stevens paid the $1,309,000 overlay into the prize pool. The guaranteed $1 million first-place prize was won by a four-player team from Detroit using the alias CHIEF-3 (Brian Koestering, his brothers-in-law Anthony Coratti and Zack Zoltowski, and friend John Miller) when their hometown Lions beat the Packers 20-16 as 4.5-point underdogs in the season finale on Sunday Night Football.

After the June 2019 opening of Circa Sports (in the now-defunct Golden Gate sportsbook while Circa Hotel-Resort was still under construction across Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas), Circa Sports Million debuted that fall with a $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool and a guaranteed $1 million first-place prize and drew an impressive 1,875 entries (extra went to the quarterly prizes).

In 2020, Stevens increased the Million guarantee to $3 million and surpassed that with 3,148 entries despite entries basically being shut down from March through early June due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Circa Survivor also debuted that season and topped its $1 million guarantee with 1,380 entries.

In 2021, both contests had $6 million guarantees with Survivor drawing 4,080 entries and Circa Sports Million drawing a then-record 4,087 entries.

Circa Million V Contest

Sign-up period: May 25 (9 a.m. PST) – Sept. 9 (2 p.m. PST)

Contest Dates: Sept. 7 – Jan. 7

Contest Details:

$1,000 to enter, 5 entries per person max
Make 5 NFL picks against the spread each week
Get one point for each correct selection and one-half point for each push
$6 Million Guaranteed in total prizes
$1 Million first place prize and the coveted blue jacket
$3.65 Million in cash prizes for places 2 – 100
$300,000 per “Quarter” in prizes awarded every 4-5 weeks
$100,000 last place booby prize / $50,000 second to last place booby prize
No Rake! Any extra fees go into the quarter and full-season prizes

During the Season:

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

During Thanksgiving week, point spreads will be posted at 10 a.m. PST Wednesday.

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

How to Enter:

In Las Vegas

Visit Circa Resort & Casino, the D Las Vegas, Tuscany Suites & Casino, Legends Bay Casino or the Pass at Water Street to sign up, then submit your picks throughout the season at any of our sportsbooks or via the Circa|Sports app (Nevada app only).

Outside Las Vegas & Nevada

All contest sign-ups must be completed in person at one of our Nevada locations. Weekly picks can only be submitted from within Nevada, either at our sportsbooks or on our app.

Proxy Services

Out-of-state residents are eligible to play by registering with a Nevada-based proxy service to submit weekly picks on your behalf. Proxies must be present at the time of registration.

Registration Deadline:

Registration ends at 2 p.m. PST on Saturday, September 9 during the first NFL Week. All entrants will also receive a Circa Million V hat.

Circa Survivor

Sign-up period: May 25 (9 a.m. PST) – September 9 (2 p.m. PST)

Contest Dates: Sept. 7 – Jan. 7

Contest Description:

Choose a different winning team each week – Choose wisely because you’ll need teams that play on Thanksgiving Day/Black Friday and Christmas Day to survive both holiday Weeks. The last entry standing wins $8 Million. Submit picks in Nevada at any Circa|Sports kiosk or via the Nevada app or play from out of state by registering with a Nevada-based proxy.