It’s not the biggest football contest in Las Vegas, but it is designed to crown the season’s best all-around handicapper from a select group of professionals. Derek Stevens is again putting his money up for grabs as the Circa Friday Football Invitational returns for a fifth season.
“The show needs to go on for sure,” said Stevens, the Circa Resort & Casino owner who put his support behind the VSiN-produced contest when it was launched in 2022.
The Circa Friday Football Invitational features a field of 25 contestants who compete in a comprehensive format that includes the college football and NFL schedules and runs for 20 weeks from early September through late January.
Defending champion Chris Macero and previous champions Chris Fallica (2022), Jeff Petch (2023) and Chuck Edel (2024) headline the field under the Friday night lights. Macero, a pro bettor from San Diego, finished 76-54-2 against the spread to win last year’s contest. He took the title away from Edel, a Las Vegas pro bettor who turned in a dominant performance (79-44-3 ATS) the previous season. All champions earn a five-year exemption.
The contest’s top five finishers earn exempt status for the following year, so Scott Pritchard, Jason Jarvis, Matt Ste. Marie and Kenny White are also automatically included in the field. The contest is free to play and requires an invitation from Circa and VSiN contest management.
Stevens oversees three of the biggest pro football handicapping contests in the world with a total of $30 million guaranteed — the Circa Survivor ($20 million guaranteed), Circa Million and Circa Grandissimo — for this season. He’s also putting up the $30,000 in prize money for the Circa Friday Football Invitational: $15,000 for the winner, $8,000 for second place, $4,000 for third, $2,000 for fourth and $1,000 for fifth.
All contestants submit seven plays — college and NFL sides and totals — using the Circa Sports lines posted at 10 a.m. PT each Friday. All contestants use the same lines, and the seven plays must be submitted no later than 3 p.m. PT. The plays will be revealed on a VSiN show airing Friday nights and also will be published on VSIN.com.
One spot in the field is awarded to the winner of a VSiN subscriber promotion. Clyde Walker, a West Virginia resident and former Florida State quarterback in the mid-1970s, was the 2025 “Average Joe” contest champion with a record of 81-49-2 ATS. The “Average Joe” contest is also returning for its fourth season.
The contest begins Friday, September 11 and continues each Friday through January 22, 2027, with the Monday, January 25, 2027 college football national championship game in Las Vegas representing the final game of the contest.
There are nine automatic qualifiers in this year’s Circa Friday Football Invitational, and invitations are extended to the remaining contestants in the 25-handicapper field for 2026.
FORMER CHAMPIONS
Chris Macero @RealGadge
Professional bettor from San Diego; 2025 Circa Friday Football Invitational champion and 2024 CFFI third-place finisher.
Chuck Edel @chuckedel
Professional bettor from Las Vegas; 2024 Circa Friday Football Invitational champion and 2022 CFFI runner-up.
Jeff Petch @MadRussianNFL
Professional handicapper from Florida; 2023 Circa Friday Football Invitational champion; 2021 Circa Million runner-up.
Chris Fallica @chrisfallica
Fox Sports analyst; 2022 Circa Friday Football Invitational champion, 2025 CFFI runner-up and 2024 CFFI fourth-place finisher.
(OTHER AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS)
TOP-FIVE FINISHERS LAST YEAR
Scott Pritchard @pritchardwins
Professional bettor from Las Vegas; 2025 and 2023 Circa Friday Football Invitational third-place finisher.
Jason Jarvis @JJarvNFLbets
Professional gambler from Connecticut; 2025 Circa Friday Football Invitational fourth-place finisher; Circa Million fourth-place finisher in 2021 and 10th place in 2023.
Matt Ste. Marie @MattySaint
Finance manager from Minneapolis; 2025 Circa Friday Football Invitational fifth-place finisher; 2023 Circa Million champion.
Kenny White @KWhiteyVegas
Professional bettor and veteran oddsmaker from Las Vegas; 2025 Circa Friday Football Invitational fifth-place finisher; Stardust Invitational two-time champion.
VSIN.COM “AVERAGE JOE” CONTEST CHAMPION
Clyde Walker
West Virginia resident and former Florida State quarterback in the mid-1970s; VSIN.com “Average Joe” contest champion with a record of 81-49-2 ATS in 2025.
INVITED CONTESTANTS
Frank Carulli
Professional bettor from Las Vegas, horse racing analyst and oddsmaker for Xpressbet; 2025 Circa Friday Football Invitational seventh-place finisher.
Doug Fleming @The_Dougger22
Real estate developer from Lansing, Michigan; Westgate SuperContest College contest champion in 2025 with a record of 65-31-2 ATS.
Tony Gordon @durbify
Professional bettor from California; 2021 Circa Million champion with the best ATS record (63-27) in contest history; 2023 Circa Friday Football Invitational runner-up.
Jack Lenenberg @potatokmish
Long-term care and life insurance adviser from Milton, Georgia, former college basketball player at Brandeis University; 2025 Circa Million seventh-place finisher.
Carl Sack @KillerSportsCom
Professional bettor from Colorado and co-owner of KillerSports.com; 2025 Circa Friday Football Invitational eighth-place finisher
Alex White @alexwhitee
Las Vegas handicapper and radio host; 2024 Circa Friday Football Invitational runner-up; 2022 winner of Station Casinos Last Man Standing College Football contest.
(The remaining 10 contestants will be announced soon.)
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CIRCA FRIDAY FOOTBALL INVITATIONAL 2026 OFFICIAL RULES
Twenty-five invited handicappers compete — with no entry fee required — in a season-long contest with $30,000 in prizes awarded.
When: Friday, September 11 through Friday, January 22, 2027 (20 weeks)
Where: VSiN studio in the Circa sportsbook
Contest plays: Seven plays per week for each of the first 18 weeks, and the plays must be college and NFL full-game sides and totals (no props, team totals or first-half plays) with one designated as the Best Bet (BB). Contestants are limited to four college football totals per week.
—Three plays per week for Weeks 19 and 20, and the plays will come from the NFL and College Football Playoff schedule, with the Monday, January 25, 2027 national championship game representing the final game of the contest. The contestants who survive to compete all 20 weeks will submit a total of 132 plays.
—Plays will be graded as one point for a win — a Best Bet winner is worth 1.5 points — and a half-point for a push. If a game is canceled or postponed, it’s graded to be worth a half-point; all games, including any postponed games, must be played by the following Thursday; a postponed game would be graded to be worth a half-point.
—In the event of ties throughout the contest, the number of wins will be the first tiebreaker (the contestant with the most winning picks advances); if a tie still exists, the number of Best Bet (BB) wins will be the second tiebreaker.
Use the Circa Sports lines posted at 10 a.m. PT Fridays. All contestants are using the same lines. Any contestant failing to designate a Best Bet will get a zero for the Best Bet record that week. All plays must be submitted via VSIN.com no later than 3 p.m. PT each Friday; any contestant who misses the deadline gets zero points for the week.
—All college and NFL games kicking off at 4:30 p.m. PT or later on Fridays will be eligible for the contest.
Prize structure: Circa Resort & Casino owner Derek Stevens is awarding $30,000 in total prize money: $15,000 for the winner, $8,000 for second place, $4,000 for third place, $2,000 for fourth place and $1,000 for fifth place. The winner also receives a trophy and a green jacket.
Contest field/format: The contest begins Friday, September 11 and continues each Friday through January 22, 2027.
—In December and January during the college bowl season, any games scheduled through the following Thursday can be used in the contest (and any games must be scored as final on that Thursday to count). Regular-season NFL games scheduled on Thursdays are ineligible for the contest until Weeks 16 (December 24) and 17. For the final week, only games scheduled through Monday, January 25 can be used in the contest (and any game must be scored as final on that Monday to count).
—If there is a disruption to the weekly football schedule and more than 50% of the scheduled NFL games get canceled, all remaining contestants will continue to the following week.
Elimination rounds: At the conclusion of Week 9 of the NFL schedule (the Friday, November 6 contest week), the two contestants with the lowest point totals will be cut.
The same elimination process — with one exception — will continue each week for the following seven weeks through Week 16 of the NFL schedule (the Friday, December 25 contest week). The two contestants with the lowest point totals will be cut each week through Week 15; at the conclusion of Week 16, the three contestants with the lowest point totals will be cut.
—At the conclusion of NFL Week 16, the eight remaining contestants compete to the end.
—If there is a tie in the final standings or a tie for last place in any elimination week, the number of wins will be the first tiebreaker (the contestant with the most winning picks advances); if a tie still exists, the number of Best Bet (BB) wins will be the second tiebreaker; if there still is a tie, the previous week’s record for each contestant will break the tie (most winning plays is the ultimate tiebreaker) and that process of grading weekly records continues in reverse order until the tie is broken.
(Derek Stevens has the authority to make a final ruling on any contest rules disputes.)
