Greg Jones just wanted to make it past Thanksgiving in Circa Survivor.
One of four remaining contestants in this year’s $9.2 million pool thought he had fallen short of that goal after a death in the family and what he believed was a losing selection.
“I’m supposed to be out. My mom passed away the week before Thanksgiving so I was kind of like a zombie,” Jones, who goes by LA JONESER in Circa Survivor, told Covers. “I was going to take Detroit. I clicked the wrong button on my proxy’s website and ended up with Green Bay, but I didn’t know. I thought I lost.”
The Lions went down 29-22 on Thanksgiving Day, a separate entry in the Las Vegas Circa Sportsbook-run contest from the weekend games, and Jones made several live bets on the Packers to win back his four entry fees of $1,000 each on that Thursday afternoon.
“At least I broke even,” Jones, a managing partner of a television commercial production company said. “I just let it go.”
Staying in the game
Two days later, while driving in the car with his wife, Jones got a call from his proxy. Thinking he was done and figuring his proxy was calling to wish him a happy Thanksgiving, Jones wanted to ignore it, but his wife urged him to answer.
When he took the call, his proxy informed Jones he needed his pick in 10 minutes. Confused, Jones finally realized he had accidentally selected Green Bay, not Detroit, and his fourth and final entry in the contest was still active.
Scrambling, Jones narrowed his choices to Tennessee, New England, and Minnesota for Week 12. His inclination was the Titans, and with minutes left before the entry had to be made, Jones went with Tennessee.
The Titans won. The Patriots and Vikings lost.
“I got through that week with a miracle,” Jones said.
Riding a longshot
Circa Survivor forces participants to pick one outright winner each week, and once a team has been used, that team is off the board for the rest of the season.
Week 16b #CircaSurvivor Results
— Circa Sports (@CircaSports) December 26, 2023
✅ 4 of 9,267 total entries survive to Week 17 (4 Eagles)
🤑 Winner-Take-All Prize: $9,267,000
Avg Implied Value Per Entry: $2,316,750
📄 Week 17 Availability: https://t.co/hdQYIj42oH pic.twitter.com/ygd38H8rj1
Jones had two of his four entries reach the week of Thanksgiving, but the one that’s still going was his longshot.
He took the New York Giants in Week 2 when they overcame a 20-point halftime deficit to defeat Arizona. Jones also selected a 4-11 Washington early in the season and got away with it.
“I didn’t try to get too strategic at all until the last couple of weeks,” Jones said. “I just took the team I thought was most likely to win. I never looked weeks ahead. I looked at who I had left and who was playing and figured it all out later.”
Millionaire maker
Jones isn’t a professional gambler. He runs Ruckus Films in Los Angeles.
He has been around sports betting his whole life, going to the horse racing track with his dad before he could do math and checking out the parlay cards his dad would bring home from working at General Motors.
And he’s never dreamed of winning the lottery and striking it rich in a hurry.
Circa Survivor’s most lucrative betting contest in history is likely going to create a few millionaires.
There was reportedly a push to chop the pot when the contest got down to 13 contestants, but pro sports bettor Sean Perry refused.
Jones said the 13-person chop was just floated and never confirmed, but once Perry publicly stated that he would win the whole thing, splitting the pot was off the table.
Jones was indifferent to the idea at that time, and with four remaining, some sort of chop could be in the cards.
Based on swapping deals made throughout the contest, Jones will give away 30% of his winnings.
Decisions, decisions
Adding to his wild run, Jones just about didn’t make it to the final four going into Week 16, which required two different selections between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Jones was feeling the Broncos all week. After talking to a few others and getting a feel for what everybody else was picking, Jones stayed off Denver, which lost to the Patriots and eliminated six contestants. Instead, he switched to the Bears, choosing to hedge. The Pats’ win was so nerve-wracking that Jones didn’t watch his Christmas Day pick, the Philadelphia Eagles, which the other three contestants also had to keep the contest going.
Week 17 doesn’t offer the remaining players many options, especially among eligible favorites.
"I’m either going Minnesota or Denver,” Jones said. “I know one guy is going Cleveland (Thursday night) and I think the other two guys are going with Houston over Tennessee.”
