LAS VEGAS — The Circa Sports NFL Survivor Contest started with a record 9,267 entries (at $1,000 each) and was down to four the last two weeks of the season.
A survivor contest requires contestants to pick one winner of an NFL each week of the season — and they can’t pick the same team twice. Circa added a wrinkle this year by making Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day their own “weeks”, so contestants actually had to go 20-0 to win the grand prize of $9.267 million.
For The Win was at Circa on Sunday to watch it all play out, as two people (IndianaJet and JAX JAGS) picked the Cincinnati Bengals to beat the Cleveland Browns, while the other two (LAJONESER and Circus Master) selected the Las Vegas Raiders to defeat the Denver Broncos.
The four contestants had gotten to know each other over social media throughout the contest and had an agreement in place to chop the pot no matter who won, so that each contestant would be assured over $2M. In essence, the four players were playing for roughly $1M on Sunday.
IndianaJet and LAJoneser were both in attendance at Circa in a private viewing area at the sportsbook hosted by Circa casino owner Derek Stevens, while Jax Jags and Circus Master weren’t on site.
Both the Browns (31-14) and Raiders (27-14) had fairly easy wins, meaning that all four contestants split the $9.267 million prize evenly, each ending up with a little over $2.3 million — the same amount as if they hadn’t chopped the pot.
The moment @LAJoneser secured a Raiders victory and became one of the four winners of the pic.twitter.com/eIqhKW7YOx
— Ben Fawkes (@BFawkes22) January 8, 2024
After the Raiders game ticked down to 0:00, Indiana Jet congratulated Greg Jones (aka LAJoneser) and they both walked over for a champagne toast from Circa owner Derek Stevens.
A double champagne toast for two of the four winners of the pic.twitter.com/ErD5bVqysv
— Ben Fawkes (@BFawkes22) January 8, 2024
“It’s a relief, more than joy,” Jones told For The Win, about finishing 20-0. “My wife said I was wasting my time until Thanksgiving, and then she started paying closer attention.”
As for what he plans to do with the money? “My wife will get most of it, so I’ll never see it again,” Jones joked.
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