A new Las Vegas Sportsbook has thrown its hat into the contest mix. The Golden Gate Casino is launching the Circa Sports Million, a handicapping contest a lot like Sportsbook's SuperContest. For an entry fee of $1,000, contestants must pick five NFL games ATS for the duration of the regular season.
The grand prize is a guaranteed $1,000,000 no matter how many entrants there are. Plus, there’s $50,000 worth of cash prizes awarded every quarter of the season for participants with the most correct ATS picks.
What sets this competition apart from SuperContest and the Ultimate Football Challenge is that there is NO rake. The sportsbook will pay out 100 percent to Sportsbooks. Moreover, if you are a Nevada resident you can make your NFL picks from your phone instead of visiting Vegas or Golden Gate in person.
About Circa Sports Million
What happens when a top sportsbook creates the ultimate contest? You get the Circa Spots Million handicapping event. This new contest gives sports bettors a chance to try and beat the spread like they would with the Sportsbook Las Vegas SuperContest whether it’s a matchup between the Patriots and Steelers or Giants and Jets.
For a small entry fee of $1,000, contestants get to pick five NFL games against the spread each week for 17 weeks. The contest opens on June 1 and you have until September 7 to sign up. The Golden Gate casino will play host to the competition until 2020 when the Circa Las Vegas is scheduled to open.
Circa is the first new sportsbook operator to lay down roots in Nevada in the last five years and they’re hoping their pro football ATS tournament will make a big splash and help them establish themselves in the sports betting industry.
Scoring and Points System
The sportsbook will post lines Thursday morning each week at 10 a.m. PT. You have until 3 p.m. PT on Saturday to submit your picks. Points are awarded as follows: one point for each correct pick, and half-a-point (0.5) for PUSHES – when the ATS score hits the oddsmaker’s set number exactly. Late entries will result in zero points for the week.
Because this contest only takes place during the NFL's regular season and you only have one chance per week to score points, making sure you get your picks in on time is a must. You don’t want to miss out on a big win by being a few minutes late.
Finding a Proxy
Don’t call Nevada home? No problem. For those who don’t live in Sin City, submitting your picks in person each week can be tough. To help you out, you can hire a proxy to present your ATS choices on your behalf. This is someone who works for a trusted professional service, is a resident of the Battle Born State and can give in your picks each week.
If you have a friend or relative who is a Nevadan, they can also submit your picks for you. A bonus for residents is they can enter their picks from their phone, laptop or desktop instead of making weekly visits to the Golden Gate.
The only thing you have to do is sign up in person. Once that’s done, you don’t have to stay in Vegas – unless you want to. It’s a great place for sports fans and betting fans alike.
You and your proxy must be 21-years-old and have valid government ID like a driver’s license or passport.
Payouts
Because this contest is new, the creators decided it might be hard to entice thousands upon thousands of people to sign up. To sweeten the deal, the grand prize is $1,000,000 guaranteed no matter how many people enter. A million dollars is a nice chunk of change for correctly predicting point spreads during the NFL season. Plus, there are $1.5 million in total prizes with the top 10 finishers receiving their share of the pot.
On top of that, there will be $50,000 awarded each quarter for the most correct picks. If there’s a tie, the quarter MVP prize money will be split evenly. The Circa Sports Million gurus have also decided that if there are more than 1,500 contestants, the excess money will be paid out to quarterly Sportsbooks too. Finally, second place is set to take home $100,000 and third will get $60,000.
The No-Rake Incentive
What makes this competition different than the SuperContest, Ultimate Football Challenge and Pro Pick'em is that there is no juice. The sportsbook is not taking a cut of the entry fees with 100 percent being paid out to the Sportsbooks. It is extremely rare that a Sportsbook doesn’t take a vig. Take advantage of this contest now before it becomes too popular and they start taking a percentage of every entrants’ $1000.
The Circa Sports Million standings will be updated each week. Check back with Odds Shark for updates and information about this brand-new handicapping contest. If you think you have what it takes to go head-to-head with other spread handicappers, why not enter for a chance to win a million big ones?
