Four Circa Survivor Winners Split $9.267M Prize

Article ByDavid Weir

January 9, 2024

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Posted in: US Sports Betting News, Nevada Gambling News, US Gambling News

The Circa Survivor contest, a football betting challenge run by Las Vegas-based Circa Sports, has paid out a record $9.627 million to the four successful finalists.

These winners, known by their aliases Circus Master, IndianaJet, Jax Jags, and LAJONESER, each achieved a perfect season record of 20-0.

The final NFL week saw wins by the Cincinnati Bengals and the Las Vegas Raiders to secure four last correct picks.

Circa’s Survivor is the most popular of the betting challenges found at Nevada retail sportsbooks, with more than 9,000 entries at the beginning of the season.

Earlier in the year, we reported on the 31 players who made the strange decision to pay $1,000 to enter the contest, and then never made a pick. Ultimately, that will be forgotten, as the four winners bask in the glory of their multimillion football betting win.

“When we launched these contests, we knew the prize needed to be one of the most coveted in all of sports betting,” said Circa Sports CEO Derek Stevens in a press release.

“Every year, we’ve upped the ante, and this was the biggest level-up of all. Congratulations to all the winners and we look forward to seeing what the 2024/2025 season brings.”

Structure and Results

The final round of the contest was marked by a tense but celebratory atmosphere at the Circa Sportsbook at the Circa Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Before the final game day of the NFL regular season played out, the four finalists agreed to share a guaranteed $2 million each.

Earlier in season 12, remaining contestants had agreed to a $400,000 “chop” of the pot as a minimum win. However, one player holdout stopped that deal.

Two of the finalists, Indiana Jet and LAJONESER, chose to attend a viewing event at the Circa venue, while the other two finalists were not present.

The contest’s structure, with each team only pickable once and the demands of additional team picks during Thanksgiving and Christmas, added a layer of complexity.

LAJONESER and Circus Master opted, somewhat fittingly, for the Las Vegas Raiders to beat the Denver Broncos as their final picks of the competition. Meanwhile, JaxJags and IndianaJet picked the Cincinnati Bengals to beat the Cleveland Browns.

Eventually, all four ended up picking correctly, winning $2.31 million each instead of the $2 million previously agreed. The Bengals cruised to a 31-14 victory in the early kickoff, securing the win for JaxJags and IndianaJet. In the later match, the Raiders felt some early pressure at 7-7 in the second quarter, but rallied to a 27-14 victory.

Circa Sports’ Pays Out Big on Popular Contest

The 2023/2024 season of the Circa Survivor contest drew a record-breaking number of entries totaling 9,267, each at a buy-in of $1,000.

In addition to the Circa Survivor, the Circa Million contest, another betting challenge where participants pick games against the spread, also concluded, contributing to the total payout of $15.2 million for both contests combined. The Circa Million’s top prize of $1 million was awarded to the contestant with the best overall record.

These big prizes outdo the previous year’s efforts, which had some 6,000 entries and paid $3 million to two winners.

Circa has been one of the fastest growing sportsbooks in Nevada in recent years. In 2023, it also launched online sports betting in Kentucky and Illinois, as well as new retail venues in and around Sin City.