Here’s a list of football contests at Las Vegas sportsbooks
Circa the end of 2020, the Circa resort is on pace to open in downtown Las Vegas with a sportsbook featuring a video screen three stories tall.
Circa Sports sportsbook already is scaling the heights of the city’s high-end football handicapping contests.
As of Saturday morning, 1,194 entries had paid $1,000 each to enter the Circa Sports Million Pro Football Contest at the Golden Gate and D Las Vegas.
The format is the same as the prestigious $1,500-entry Westgate SuperContest, with entrants selecting five NFL games against the spread each week.
Circa’s contest guarantees a $1.5 million prize pool, $1 million to the winner and $50,000 quarterly prizes.
“The exciting part is if it’s over 1,500 (entries), all that money goes into the quarters and it could add up fast,” Circa Sports sportsbook director Matthew Metcalf said. “If we got up to 1,700 entries, that would be another $50,000 each quarter. If we keep that format over time, it could potentially be huge.
“There seems to be room in the market for another contest. People are embracing it.”
Despite Circa’s new contest, the SuperContest is closing in on a record number of entries for the ninth consecutive year and will crown its third consecutive $1 million-plus winner.
Eric Kahane of Irvine, California, went 59-25-1 ATS (70.2 percent) last season to win the $1.4 million first-place prize and top a field of 3,123 entries. As of Saturday, the 2019 SuperContest was up to 2,665 entries.
“I think we’re going to break our record from last year,” Westgate sportsbook director John Murray said. “But we certainly did lose some business to Circa.”
The Westgate and Circa are each accepting contest selections via mobile app this season.
A high-end option for college football bettors is the Golden Nugget’s $1,000-entry Ultimate Football Challenge. The contest drew 308 entries in its inaugural season last year and, as of Friday, had 250 entries. Entrants select seven NFL and/or college football sides ATS during the 17-week NFL season. Rich Velez of San Francisco went 81-36-2 ATS (69.2 percent) to win last year’s contest.
“If you’re a college football player and don’t want to mess with the pros, this is the contest to be in,” Golden Nugget sportsbook director Tony Miller said. “The fact that we mix and match college and pro and put every college game available on the card, a lot of guys that bet college football, especially sharp guys, really like that.”
Here is a rundown of the major handicapping contests offered by Las Vegas sportsbooks, with entry fees ranging from free to $5,000 for the SuperContest Gold.
Complete rules available at all sportsbooks:
Boyd Gaming
Contest: Pick the Pros
Entry fee: Free; Must have B Connected card.
Details: Select NFL games with no point spreads; $30,000 in weekly prizes, with total prize pool of more than $500,000.
Properties: Aliante Hotel, California Hotel, Fremont, Gold Coast, Main Street Station, Sam’s Town, Suncoast, The Orleans.
Circa Sports
Contest: Circa Sports Million Pro Football Contest
Entry fee: $1,000; limit three per person.
Details: Select five NFL games ATS each week; $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool. The contest will pay out 100 percent of the entry fees. The top 10 places will be paid, with $1 million to the winner and $50,000 quarterly prizes.
Properties: Golden Gate, D Las Vegas.
Golden Nugget
Contest: Ultimate Football Challenge
Entry fee: $1,000; limit three per person.
Details: Select seven college and/or NFL sides ATS during the 17-week NFL season. The contest will pay out 97 percent of the entry fees to the top 20 finishers, with 40 percent to first place, 20 percent to second and 10 percent to third.
South Point
Contest: Pro Football Kickoff Weekend Jackpot Parlay Card
Entry fee: $5; no limit on number of cards played.
Details: Select NFL games with no point spreads on Sunday and Monday in Week 1; contestant with the most correct selections wins the jackpot, with $25,000 guaranteed.
Properties: CasaBlanca Resort, Rampart Casino at the Resort at Summerlin, South Point, Virgin River.
Station Casinos
Contest: Last Man Standing (Pro)
Entry fee: $25; limit four with fifth free.
Details: Select one NFL game ATS each week, one loss means elimination; winner takes prize pool with $150,000 minimum guaranteed. There is a $750,000 early bird bonus if a contestant wins the Last Man Standing pro and college contests (must register by Monday to qualify).
Contest: Last Man Standing (College)
Entry fee: $25; limit four with fifth free.
Details: Select one college game against the spread each week, one loss means elimination; winner takes prize pool with $100,000 minimum guaranteed.
Properties: All Station Casinos, Fiestas and Wildfire locations, El Cortez and Palms.
Contest: Pro Football $1 Million Pick & Play
Entry fee: Free; Must have Boarding Pass or Club Cortez card.
Details: Select NFL games with no point spreads; 2,500 winners each week share $50,000 in free slot play, 10,000 end of season winners share $200,000 in free slot play.
Westgate
Contest: SuperContest
Entry fee: $1,500; limit two per person.
Details: Select five NFL games against the spread each week; prize money consists of all entry fees less $120 administrative fee per entry, and the top 100 finishers are paid, with the winner to earn more than $1 million.
Contest: SuperContest Gold
Entry fee: $5,000; limit one per person.
Details: Select five NFL games against the spread each week; winner take all.
William Hill
Contest: College Pick’em
Entry fee: $500; limit four per person.
Details: Select seven college games ATS each week off menu of 25 games; $75,000 guaranteed prize pool and top 10 finishers are paid. There is a $25,000 bonus if winner of 10-week contest selects 49 winners or more.
Contest: Pro Pick’em
Entry fee: $25; limit 15 per person; purchase four and get one free entry.
Details: Select Sunday and Monday NFL games with no point spreads; $300,000 guaranteed prize pool; $10,000 weekly cash prize awarded to entry with the most winners; $20,000 grand prize for season. Also, there is a $100,000 cash bonus for winning 200 or more games out of 256.
Properties: On the William Hill sports betting kiosk or at all full-service William Hill sportsbooks in Nevada, including Downtown Grand, Ellis Island, Four Queens, Hooters Hotel, M Resort, Plaza, Silver Sevens, SLS Las Vegas, Stratosphere and Tuscany.
More Betting: Follow at reviewjournal.com/betting and @RJ_Sports on Twitter.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
