Westgate SuperContest making changes for next year

Football season is nearing its end, but the Westgate is almost ready to accept entries for next year’s SuperContest.

The Westgate sportsbook has announced several changes for the high-profile NFL handicapping contest, starting with allowing contestants to start registering for next year on Monday. Registration began on March 1 last season.

Other changes include new quarterly bonuses and a later deadline to submit picks each week.

Westgate sportsbook vice president Jay Kornegay said the early registration date is designed to attract people coming to Las Vegas for the NFL playoffs or Super Bowl who might not be able to return here before the start of the next football season.

“We had a great response last year when we allowed people to enter at March Madness time, and that went so well, we wanted to bump it up even further,” Kornegay said.

Contestants can enter the flagship $1,500 entry SuperContest, as well as the $5,000 winner-take-all SuperContest Gold and the $500 SuperContest Reboot for weeks 9 to 17.

Contestants are now allowed three entries each in the SuperContest and the Reboot. Only one entry is allowed in the Gold contest.

The SuperContest is also adding $540,000 in quarterly bonuses for next year. The best entry in each four-week period (weeks 1-4, 5-8, 9-12 and 13-16) will receive $100,000. Second gets $25,000 and third $10,000. The Westgate will provide $100,000 of the bonus pool money, taken out of its 8 percent administrative fee on entries.

Week 17 is not included in the bonuses, but will still count in the main standings. The annual mini-contest for weeks 15 to 17 will be discontinued.

“It gives more opportunities for more winners,” Kornegay said. “… People who are struggling get a second, third and fourth chance.”

The new $1,000 entry Circa Sports Million Pro Football Contest had quarterly bonuses this season, and Kornegay said the Westgate’s changes were partly in response to “competition.”

The deadline to submit entries will move to 11 p.m. Saturday (6 p.m. for those using the mobile app). The deadline this season was 11 a.m. Saturday (11 p.m. Friday for mobile).

The SuperContest drew a record 3,328 entries this season. It Ain’t Breezy, the alias of Nebraska childhood friends Eric Jensen and Matt Kucera, won the $1.47 million first prize with a record of 58-25-2 (69.9 percent) against the spread.

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Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.