Westgate shakes up SuperContest: lower price, more ways to win

The SuperContest, the longtime premier NFL handicapping contest in Las Vegas, will have a $1,000 entry fee this season, down from $1,500. The competition will also have nine in-season contests to go with the overall title.

The Westgate will not take a cut of the entry fees, and bettors can have up to three entries.

The $5,000 entry winner-take-all SuperContest Gold will return this year with no changes. Both contests use the same format: picking five NFL games against the spread each week of the season.

The SuperContest had four quarterly contests last year, and Westgate sportsbook vice president Jay Kornegay said the increased in-season contests came from customer feedback.

“They felt like if they’re out of the running for the full-season contest they can look to the in-season contests to stay interested,” he said.

This year’s SuperContest will have three six-week contests and six three-week contests, fitting evenly into the new 18-week schedule. The six-week contests will have payouts of $100,000, $50,000, $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 for the first five places. The three-week contests will pay three spots at $75,000, $25,000 and $5,000.

The in-season contest prizes are guaranteed (a total of $1,132,500). The entry money above that will go to the season-long prize pool, with the top 30 places paid.

Kornegay said more than 2,300 entries would put the season-long first-place prize at about $500,000.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic last season, the SuperContest had 1,172 entries with a first-place prize of $435,623. In 2019, the SuperContest had a record field of 3,328 with $1.47 million for first.

Circa Sports has shaken up the Las Vegas contest scene the past two years and is going even bigger in its third year with $4 million guaranteed for the $1,000 entry Circa Million III, which uses the same format as the SuperContest, and $6 million guaranteed for the $1,000 entry Circa Survivor, in which entrants pick one straight-up winner each week and are eliminated with a loss.

Kornegay said he did feel the need to shake up the SuperContest a bit in response.

“It’s the American way,” he said. “Competition makes everything better. We acknowledge that.”

The Westgate also announced that its SuperContest Weekend would take place Aug. 27-28 with 10 contest entries given out. A four-man scramble golf tournament tournament will be held Aug. 28 with an entry fee of $90. The field is capped at 100.

SuperContest entrants will also get raffle tickets for the Westgate’s NYE Super Suite Drawing. The winner will receive a New Year’s Eve vacation for four at the Westgate with four nights in a suite at the hotel, four tickets to the Las Vegas Bowl at Allegiant Stadium, four tickets to the New Year’s Eve party at the Westgate and a round of golf at Las Vegas Country Club.

The drawing will be held Sept. 13 before the Ravens-Raiders game. Entrants do not have to be present to win.

Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.