Polymarket and Splash Sports, a DFS and skill-based game site, aim to make some waves together this upcoming pro football season. The two entities heralded a new partnership on Thursday by launching a $21 million NFL survivor contest for the upcoming season across 35 states and Canada, reported first here in a Rotowire exclusive. The money makes it the largest survivor conrest to date, and it's also the first such contest offered by any licensed prediction site in the U.S.
That guarantee tops the $20 million offered by the Circa Survivor contest, considered the industry's gold standard.
The Splash-Polymarket partnership also means that traders can access the prediction market's offerings via Splash's platform. Splash Sports boasts 2 million active users for its pick'em, daily fantasy and commissioner-led contests.
A standalone Splash Market tab in the Splash app, powered by Polymarket, will follow the "Super App" model used by the likes of betr, DraftKings and FanDuel.
The deal came together, in part, because Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan used Splash and even won a few survivor contests on the site.
"The next phase of sports engagement will be defined by the gamification of live events," Copland said in a statement announcing the deal. "Splash has built one of the largest skill-based social sports communities in the United States and I've personally been a user of their legacy brand for many years. We believe that partnering with them for the biggest survivor contest in history is the perfect way to bring prediction markets to NFL fans at scale."
Largest NFL Survivor Contest in 35 States and Canada
Splash co-founder TJ Ross spoke with RotoWire about the partnership, what it means for both operators and the survivor contest ecosystem. The Splash-Polymarket contest will be available in 35 states and in Canada, where Splash serves as either a licensed DFS or skill-based games operator.
"We talked to all the players in the (prediction market) space and really connected with Shane and the Polymarket team because we felt they really understood sports and were truly sports fans. And then the other thing that I loved, Shane was a user of our product and had won some survivor contests in the past on our product. And so I knew he really knew our games and saw the value in them," Ross said.
Ross and co-founder Joel Milton launched Splash in 2021 by acquiring RunYourPool and OfficeFootballPool -- despite initially lacking capital to do so. Ross said he and Milton identified what they deemed was large, under-served audience of roughly 60 million people playing these contests, with significant offline money flows and trust issues around commissioners holding funds, and positioned Splash as a "sleeping giant" opportunity in the sports gaming ecosystem.
The company raised $14.5 million in Series B funding in October 2025 after receiving angel funding from the likes of New England Patriots President Jonathan Kraft and longtime MLB executive Theo Epstein. Splash got clearance from the federal government to operate as a licensed introductory broker in March.
Ross sees numerous touchpoints where prediction markets can enhance survivor play -- for example, allowing participants to hedge positions mid-contest by trading outcomes on specific games -- and chose Polymarket in part because its team are genuine sports fans and existing users of Splash's products.
Why the Splash Polymarket Deal Could Transform Sports Engagement
The $21 million survivor contest draws an obvious comparison to what Circa Sports and others offer in Las Vegas.
The distinction?
Ross emphasizes the mobile-first, nationwide experience that his platform and Polymarket will offer. Splash users in 35 states, plus Canada, can access their entries from anywhere, receive real-time updates, and skip the burden and cost of either traveling to Nevada to enter in person, or use a proxy.
"We thought $21 million was a nice number and we wanted to be the biggest contest ever," he said. "We have lots of respect for what all those contests in Vegas have done. I think there's room for both of those things."
The Splash-Polymarket survivor contests carries a $1,000 buy-in, but individuals can enter up to 150 times. The Circa Survivor contest as the same $1,000 buy-in, with a 10-entry limit per player.
Ross likens the Splash-Polymarket survivor contest partnership to "the Chris Moneymaker Moment of the World Series of Poker." In 2003, Moneymaker won $2.5 million in the World Series of Poker after qualifying via an $86 satellite tournament. That triggered a surge of interest in both the WSOP and online poker play.
"That's what we think is happening with survivor because it's just such an easy, simple game to play. Anyone can play it, but it also has so much nuance to it and so much game theory and strategy to it that it's intriguing for even the poker player, daily fantasy player types. And also you're making one pick a week, but you care about every single game and every single play," Ross said.
