UNLV Student and Poker Pros Split $18.7M Circa Survivor Prize
Five entries finished the NFL season 20-0 to divide a record $18.7 million in Circa's Survivor contest.
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:Circa Resort & Casino's high-stakes Survivor contest concluded in early January with five remaining entries each finishing a perfect 20-0, earning $3.74 million apiece from the $1,000-entry pool. The competition drew a record 18,718 entries and required contestants to pick a straight-up NFL winner each week while using every team only once; Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks counted as separate picks.
Among the winners was Fernanda Carriedo, a 25-year-old nursing student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a graduate of Palo Verde High School, who clinched victory by taking the Minnesota Vikings over the Green Bay Packers on the final Sunday. "I'll be a Vikings fan for life", Carriedo said after the game. "It's a huge honor. I'm so appreciative of this opportunity to have been one of the first two women to have won this competition. This is a huge win for me at my age. It's insane. Life-changing, for sure." A second female entry that finished on the Vikings chose to remain anonymous.
Carriedo credited a team of experienced gamblers and pros for helping navigate the contest. She said she split a percentage of the prize with professional poker players Jason Somerville and Gabe Patgorski, who acted as advisers and partners on her entry.
Related: Circa to Host 'Slotapalozza' Slot Party in Las Vegas in July
Winners and Turning-Point Weeks
The Survivor field tightened dramatically around the Thanksgiving/Black Friday slate when favorites faltered across the board. A key turning point came when the Chicago Bears, seven-point underdogs, upset the Philadelphia Eagles 24-15 on Black Friday. That single result reduced the contest field from roughly 900 entries to 49 and preserved several longshot paths to the prize.
Casey Diener, a professional poker player from Austin, Texas, was part of a multi-player syndicate entry called Real Bro. Diener and eight teammates rode Chicago's upset and closed out their perfect season by picking the Jacksonville Jaguars in the final week after Jacksonville routed the Tennessee Titans 41-7. "Mathematically, everybody was on the Eagles, so the play was the Bears", Diener said. "I didn't think the Bears were going to win, but if they did win, it was really, really good for us, and that's how it worked out. I just try to base it on what I think the other teams are going to take and try to counter that and hope for the best."
Other winning entries leaned on timely upsets. Two entries – Dylan W and GaryA – advanced through Christmas week when the Vikings upset the Detroit Lions 23-10. GaryA finished by selecting the New England Patriots, who dispatched the Miami Dolphins 38-10 in the final week. The Dylan W entry, represented publicly at Circa by local poker pros Dylan Wilkerson and Shannon Schorr, needed a dramatic finish: the Atlanta Falcons held on for a 19-17 win over the New Orleans Saints, sealing the perfect season when New Orleans' late onside kick went out of bounds.
"It was quite the sweat", Schorr said. "The most fun weeks were Thanksgiving and Christmas because we picked underdogs, and they came in. We kind of have training for this sort of gambling, high stakes, lot of money at the end type situations. So there were a lot of similar dynamics in that way. To be able to stay level-headed and approach it mathematically and make hedges in a way where we can think rationally when a lot of money is at stake probably benefits us."
Six entries entered the final week alive. One entry, Partzi, was knocked out when the Cincinnati Bengals rallied to take an 18-17 lead over the Cleveland Browns late, before Browns kicker Andre Szmyt converted a 49-yard field goal as time expired to eliminate that survivor path.
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Industry Perspective and Next Steps
Circa's $18.7 million payout is the latest in a string of eye-catching, large-format sports betting promotions that have reshaped attention around single-event pools. For operators, the event demonstrates both the marketing power of a headline prize and the logistical demands of managing large, tax-reportable payouts. For entrants, it highlights how syndicates and experienced bettors can leverage statistical and game-theory approaches to outlast a predominantly casual field.
Regulators and responsible-gambling advocates will likely watch future editions closely. Large jackpots lure broad participation but also concentrate risk and attention on a small number of final-week outcomes. As the industry evolves, operators may refine rules, transparency around syndicates, and consumer protections to balance promotional appeal with player safeguards.
For the winners, the result is immediate and transformative. For the market, Circa's Survivor has set a new benchmark in high-stakes, skill-and-luck hybrid contests – one that will shape how sportsbooks structure and advertise season-long competitions going forward.
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