Calm after storm: Circa faces $10.1M overlay in football contests

A broken drain pipe was the culprit for water pouring through the screen of the Circa sportsbook Thursday during a rainstorm.

The book recovered quickly and was back to normal Sunday after replacing the screen, carpet, ceilings and walls.

“Everything has been dried out completely and is back to new,” Circa sportsbook operations manager Jeff Benson said. “We’re certainly excited as we roll back into football season.”

Circa now hopes a flood of cash pours into the book to meet an unprecedented $12 million in guaranteed prize money for its two $1,000-entry NFL handicapping contests.

Five weeks before the NFL season opener, the downtown book is staring at a $10.1 million overlay. It paid out $1.92 million last year to cover an overlay in the Circa Survivor contest.

The book needs 6,000 entries each in Circa Million IV and Survivor to meet its $6 million guarantees in each contest. On Monday, it had 784 entries in the Million ($5.2 million overlay) and 1,066 entries in Survivor ($4.9 million overlay).

Last year, Circa drew 4,087 entries for the Million (which had a $4 million guarantee) and 4,080 for Survivor.

Benson said the book is ahead of last year’s sign-up pace for both contests but still expects to pay a seven-figure overlay.

“Based on the current amount of sign-ups, we’re projecting to have roughly 4,500 people in the Million and 7,200 in the Survivor,” he said.

If those projections come to fruition, there will be a $1.5 million overlay in the Million, where there is a limit of three entries per contestant as opposed to six in Survivor.

“I would be shocked if we got to $6 million in the Million,” Benson said. “It’s just easier to get to that number in Survivor, given you can have six entries and the ability to buy back in after the Thursday night game.”

In a new wrinkle in Survivor, contestants can purchase up to six additional entries before the Sept. 10 deadline if they lose their original entries on the opening “Thursday Night Football” game Sept. 8 between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams.

“I think you’ll definitely see a bigger amount of entries in Survivor because of that,” Benson said.

Football contest weekends

Circa is hosting three football contest weekends Aug. 12-13, 19-20 and 26-27. When a contestant buys a “full house” of football entries — the max three entries in the Million and six in Survivor — they get a free three-night stay at the D Las Vegas, a Friday night cocktail party at BarCanada, Saturday open bar at Stadium Swim and VIP access to the Fremont Street Experience concert series.

Circa also will host a football preview panel from 4-6 p.m. on Aug. 27 in its new meeting and convention space. The panel will be hosted by Circa vice president of operations Mike Palm and will feature former NFL players Brian Urlacher and Shaun King and Circa risk director Chris Bennett.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.