An entrant using the contest name of COYNEHOP-1 won the $1 million guaranteed first-place prize in the Circa Sports Million VII handicapping contest that concluded Sunday on the final day of the NFL regular season.
COYNEHOP, who Circa owner Derek Stevens said hasn’t come forward yet, finished 60-29-1 (67.4%) in the contest where players pick 5 games a week against the spread against the Circa spreads that are locked in Thursday after going 2-3 ATS in Week 18. Heading into the Sunday Night Footabll season-finale, his record could have been matched (and eventually was) by BISONSPORTSCARDS-2, who had Steelers +3.5 against the Ravens, but COYNEHOP had already clinched with the tiebreaker of which entrant had the most winning weeks during the contest. Week 18 was only COYNEHOP’s third losing week while BISONSPORTSCARDS had already had four losing weeks, according to Circa’s director of sports book operations Jeffrey Benson.
Stevens guaranteed a $6 million prize pool (including the guaranteed cool million-dollar along with the coveted blue blazer to the champion) for Circa Sports Million VII when the $1,000-per-entry contest was announced in May. It ending up drawing 5,685 entries, so there was an overlay of $315,000 to be paid by Stevens.
BISONSPORTSCARDS did hit his final play on the Steelers +3.5 to match COYNEHOP’s record, but had to settle for the $500,000 second-place prize.
COYNEHOP entered Week 18 with a record of 58-26-1 ATS (players pick 5 games a week against Circa’s contest spreads that are locked in on Thursdays) for 58.5 contest points and a 1-game lead over BISONSPORTSCARDS-2. Wins count for 1 point and pushes are worth half a point.
In Saturday’s opening game of the weekend, COYNEHOP went with the Buccaneers -2.5 against the Panthers and lost when the Bucs won 16-14 but failed to cover. However, COYNEHOP didn’t have to fear losing any ground as 13 of the top 24 contestants entering the weekend also lost on the Bucs. That loss also guaranteed that the record of DURBIFY (aka Tony Gordon of Atascadero, California) of 63-27 ATS (70%) in Circa Sports Million III during the 2021 season stands for at least another year. Pop the champagne ala the 1972 Miami Dolphins, Tony.
COYNEHOP bounced back with a win on the Seahawks -1.5 on Saturday night. He had two early Sunday games with the Giants +3.5 (winning with their 34-17 upset of the Cowboys) and the Titans +13 (losing in a 41-7 rout at the Cowboys) to stand at 2-2 with the split.
In the afternoon games (1:25 p.m. PT kickoffs), COYNEHOP had the Dolphins +10.5 at the Patriots and the Fish hung around early, trailing just 17-10 at halftime and still covering, but then were blown out in the second half in a 38-10 loss to drop to 2-3 in Week 18 and 60-29-1 ATS (67.4%).
That opened the door for someone to come from behind to claim the $1 million prize, but as we stated above the majority of those in contention were already 0-1 after the Bucs’ non-cover.
SEANS DOLPHINS-3, who entering Week 18 at 56 points and 2.5 points behind, did make a run at COYNEHOP as he didn’t use the Bucs on Saturday and instead went 4-1 on Sunday, starting with the Giants +3.5 in the early games and then 3-1 in the afternoon with wins on the Patriots -10.5, Raiders +5.5 and Commanders +3. However, his loss on Bears +3 (who were losing 16-0 to the Lions before rallying with two TDs and two 2-point conversions to tie the game 16-16 only to lose 19-16) kept him at 60 points and unable to move ahead of COYNEHOP. SEANS DOLPHINS did finish in sole possession of third place to earn $400,000.
WINK-1, who was even farther back at 54.5 points, also made a big run, going a perfect 5-0 on Sunday to finish with 59.5 points to catch bruiser1226-3 in a tie for fourth- and fifth-place, so they split those and win $325,000 apiece.
WRETCHY, a poker pro I met in the Circa book on Sunday, finished in sole possession of sixth place to earn $250,000, and also finished in a tie for ninth place with another entry.
Any discussion of 2025’s Circa Sports Million VII has to include POTATO KMISH-1, who was the leader during the middle weeks of the contest, taking over the No. 1 spot after Week 7 and holding it through Week 12. POTATO KMISH went 5-0 in Week 6 (after going 5-0 in Week 5 as well) to take the lead with an impressive record of 22-8 ATS (77.1%) and also had a healthy presence as @Potatokmish on Twitter/X as the de facto face of the contest during that span.
We can tell you now that POTATO KMISH is Jack Lenenberg, a 59-year-old in the life and LTC (long term care) insurance arena in Alpharetta, Georgia. POTATO KMISH entered Week 18 tied for 9th place at 54.5 points and went 3-2 to finish with 59.5 to hang on for sole possession of seventh place to earn $200,000.
COYNEHOP was sitting just off the pace at 11-4 through the first three weeks of the NFL season, but then went 5-0 in Week 4 to improve to 16-4 ATS (80%) and all the way to 5th place. He stalked POTATO KMISH over the next eight weeks before finally taking over the lead in Week 13 and never fell below second place the rest of the contest.
Circa Sports Million also has a full-season “Booby Prize” for the worst record (must make 5 selections in all 18 weeks to be eligible). GCIndycate had a 1-point lead heading into Week 18 and went an impressive 0-5 (as it’s just as hard to intentionally pick losers instead of winners) on the 49ers +1.5, Packers +8.5, Dolphins +10.5, Cardinals +7 and the Ravens -3.5 on Sunday night to finish 25-64-1 and win the $100,000 booby prize.
