Losses by Seahawks, 49ers Decimate Circa Survivor Field as NFL Betting Continues to Grow

And then there were 221.

Heading into Sunday’s NFL slate, just 479 of an initial pool of 14,266 Circa Survivor entrants were still in the hunt for piece of — or perhaps the entire — $14.27 million prize pie.

But after surprising losses by the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers, who play each other this Thursday in Seattle, the pool of entrants heading into a Monday Night Football tilt between the Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints stood at just 221.

Major upsets through the first two weeks of the season winnowed the Survivor field down to historically low levels, and that trend continued in a big way in Week 5. Of the 480 contestants still alive heading into Week 5 (one entrant got bounced when Tampa Bay lost on Thursday), 180 (or 33.3%) picked the Seahawks as the surest straight-up victor, while 86 (or 17.9%) picked the 49ers. The NFC West rivals wound up losing to the Giants and Cardinals, respectively, and combined to dash the hopes of just over half the remaining field.

Heading into Week 4, just 3% of the original Survivor field was still alive. Now, with just one game to play in Week 5, that figure has shrunk to 1.55%.

Minnesotans Pining for Legal Sports Betting

The company GeoComply does a lot of things, but its core function is to ensure that mobile sports bettors are only able to wager in states where it is legal. And on the last day of September — a Sunday when the Vikings were playing — the geolocation provider reported that it blocked more than 4,750 active accounts from making over 30,000 attempted bets in the state of Minnesota, which has yet to legalize sports wagering.

“Minnesota fans are ready to wager legally, but the framework isn’t there yet,” the company wrote on its X/Twitter feed.

First-month NFL data published by GeoComply showed that the number of active sports betting accounts nationwide is up 23% year over year, fueled in part by the fact that bettors in North Carolina are legally wagering on NFL action for the very first time.

GeoComply also reported that year-over-year in-stadium betting was up significantly in September. MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, home to both the Giants and Jets, has seen an increase in wagering from 6,700 active accounts to 9,500, while 13.5% of attendees at Chicago Bears home games have engaged with betting apps from inside Soldier Field.