Circa Sports introduces $15M guaranteed survivor prize pool, the largest legal sports betting contest in U.S. history

The NFL is the most popular sport to wager on in the United States, and betting pools have become an increasingly popular alternative for bettors. Circa Sports — the Nevada-based sports betting brand — announced Thursday that its popular Circa Survivor contest — in which contestants have to pick one NFL team each week to win its game outright and aren't allowed to use the same team twice in a season — will have a record $15 million guarantee, up from $10 million last season.

It's the biggest guaranteed payout ever for a legal sports betting contest.

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Eight winners ended up splitting the final prize pool of $14,266,000 in last season's contest. Circa will also bring back its Circa Millions VII contest, which requires contestants to make five NFL picks against the spread every week and has a prize pool of at least $6 million.

This year, Circa Sports is also introducing a new high-end survivor contest called Circa Grandissimo, which will guarantee $1.5 million as the prize pool and each entry will cost $100,000.

"Along with making history with our existing contests, Circa Grandissimo pays homage to some of the biggest bets in Las Vegas — and this is by far the grandest wager we’ve ever made on Circa Sports,” Derek Stevens, CEO of Circa Sports, said in a statement.

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Sign-ups for the contests begin Thursday and run through Sept. 6.

Each contest requires the contestant to sign up in Nevada, and all weekly entries must be made in person by the contestant in the state or via a proxy.