Entry Transactions

What is a Survivor transaction?

A Survivor transaction is a private agreement between people who own an economic interest in one or more contest entries.

These deals happen every season. A player sells part of an entry before the contest starts. Two players swap small stakes in each other's portfolios. A group of friends signs a save agreement in case one of them wins. None of this requires a fancy legal department. It does require clarity.

The agreement should clearly separate two things:

• Ownership: Who receives what percentage of the winnings.
• Control: Who decides which picks are submitted.

Someone can own 10% of an entry without having any say over the picks. Control should only exist when the agreement specifically grants it.

Common types of deals

Selling a percentage

A player sells someone a percentage of one entry or a group of entries.

Alex sells Jordan 10% of all five of Alex's Circa Survivor entries for $2,000.

The agreement needs to identify whether the percentage covers:

• One specific entry
• Several named entries
• Every entry the player owns in that contest
• Entries added after the agreement

Buying across all of someone's entries is often cleaner. Survivor players may spread teams and strategies across multiple entries. Owning a piece of the whole portfolio gives the buyer exposure to the player's complete strategy instead of one entry that may have been intentionally positioned differently.

Still, the parties can choose any structure as long as the covered entries are clearly identified.

Percentage swaps

Two people exchange interests in their entries.

Alex receives 5% of Jordan's three entries. Jordan receives 5% of Alex's five entries.

The percentages do not necessarily have to be equal. The agreement should identify every covered entry and whether either person is paying additional money.

Save agreements

Several people agree to pay each other if anyone wins.

Alex, Jordan and Taylor each agree that if one of them wins, the winner will pay 3% of the prize to each of the other two people.

Clarify whether the agreement applies to one entry per person or every entry each person owns. Define what counts as "winning," especially if the contest pays multiple places.

One entry versus a portfolio of entries

Many deals cover all of a player's entries in a contest for good reason.

A player with several entries may use them together. They may diversify picks, preserve different teams, or take different paths through the contest. Looking at one entry in isolation can give a distorted picture of the strategy.

This should still be stated directly in the agreement. Nothing should be left to assumption.

Entry-specific deals make sense when both sides want them. A buyer may only want exposure to one famous entry. A seller may want to keep full ownership of other entries. That is fine as long as the agreement lists the covered entries by name or number and says whether future entries are included.

Ownership versus control

Most percentage sales should be passive. The original player continues making the picks, and the buyer receives their agreed portion of any winnings.

Control has separate value. Someone asking to control the entry may need to pay a premium because they are receiving both an economic interest and decision-making authority.

The guide recommends that a person with control have the largest economic interest among the shareholders. A person should not be making all the decisions while carrying only a small portion of the financial outcome.

A basic control section should say:

• Who submits the picks
• Whether anyone else must approve the picks
• What happens if the parties disagree
• When picks must be communicated
• Whether control can be transferred
• What happens if the controlling person becomes unavailable

If someone else submits picks through a Las Vegas proxy, that is a separate operational arrangement. Control under a private deal still needs to be written down between the economic owners.

Paying a premium for control

Passive ownership is simpler. The seller keeps doing what they already planned to do. The buyer receives upside without weekly work.

Control is different. The controlling person takes responsibility for every deadline, every holiday leg, and every late injury decision. They also carry the blame if the entry loses on a bad pick.

If someone wants control, the price should reflect that extra responsibility. A buyer who pays the same price for 10% with control as they would for 10% passive is probably underpaying or the seller is giving away too much.

Conflicts involving other entries

A controlling person may own other entries outside the agreement. Their personal interests can eventually conflict with the entry they control.

For example, someone might control part of Entry A while personally owning Entry B. If those are the final two entries, that person could benefit from making a bad pick for Entry A.

The contract should require the controlling person to act in good faith for the benefit of the covered entry or covered portfolio. They should not intentionally weaken it to benefit another entry, another ownership position, or a side arrangement.

The agreement also needs to define the object of the strategy:

• If the deal covers one entry, decisions should be made for that entry's benefit.
• If the deal covers a portfolio, the manager may make decisions based on the combined value of the covered portfolio.
• Personal entries outside the agreement should not influence decisions for the covered entries.

Avoid vague contract language that forces someone to choose a favorite, make a conventional pick, or follow a loosely defined type of strategy. Those rules can create bad incentives and unnecessary disputes. The controlling player needs room to use their judgment.

Winnings, withholding and taxes

The agreement should define what the percentage applies to.

For the main Circa use case, the cleanest structure is an actual ownership percentage of the prize. When the operator recognizes the shares and pays shareholders separately, each person receives their own portion and handles the taxes and withholding attached to that portion.

This is different from contests where the entire prize is paid to one person. In that situation, the agreement needs to explain:

• Whether percentages are calculated from the gross prize
• How operator withholding is allocated
• Who receives tax forms
• When the other shareholders are paid
• Whether tax documentation must be exchanged

The agreement should avoid a situation where one person receives the tax bill for money that economically belongs to everyone else.

No-picks and missed deadlines

Every agreement should address what happens if no valid pick is submitted.

There are several possible causes:

• The controlling person forgot
• The pick was submitted too late
• The player misunderstood the deadline
• The operator or proxy had a technical issue
• The submitted team was invalid
• The parties disagreed and no decision was reached

The contract should create a process before discussing damages. For example:

• Picks must be decided by an internal deadline earlier than the official deadline.
• The controlling person must send confirmation after submission.
• A backup person may submit if confirmation is not received.
• The agreement identifies who has final authority if the group disagrees.

The parties should also choose a remedy for a negligent no-pick. Possible remedies could include refunding the purchase price, buying back the affected percentage, or using another agreed valuation. The exact remedy can vary, but the issue should not be ignored.

Ownership should remain clear even if the contest rules treat a no-pick as a loss, use a default team, or apply another result.

Verifying the other party

There may be no public ledger showing every person who owns a piece of an entry. That creates counterparty risk.

The seller should represent that:

• They own the percentage they are selling
• They have disclosed all existing shareholders
• The total percentages sold do not exceed 100%
• No earlier agreement conflicts with the new agreement
• They will disclose any later sales
• Any control rights granted to someone else have been disclosed

For more formal transactions, the agreement can include a simple ownership table listing every shareholder and their percentage.

Terms every agreement should include

At minimum, a written deal should cover:

• The contest name and season
• Which entries are covered
• The percentage or swap terms
• The purchase price or other consideration
• Who controls picks
• What the percentage applies to (gross winnings, net after fees, etc.)
• How and when shareholders get paid
• Representations about existing owners
• What happens on a no-pick or missed deadline
• Good-faith obligations when the controller owns other entries
• Signatures or written confirmation from every party

How formal the agreement needs to be

An agreement does not need to be filled with legal language.

For a simple deal between people who know each other, a written message can cover the important terms:

Confirming that I am buying 5% of all four of your 2026 Circa Survivor entries for $1,500. You retain full control of all picks. The 5% applies to gross contest winnings attributed to those entries. Payment has been received.

Larger deals, control arrangements, complicated portfolios, and agreements between people who do not know each other should use a fuller contract.

Even friends should put the agreement in writing. The point is to make sure everyone remembers the deal the same way.

Simple agreement template

Use this for a straightforward passive percentage purchase between people who already trust each other.

Full contract template

Use this when the deal includes control rights, multiple shareholders, representations about ownership, or detailed remedies for missed picks.

Percentage-swap template

Use this when two players exchange percentages of each other's entries rather than a straight cash sale.

Multi-person save template

Use this when several people agree to pay each other if one of them wins a major prize.

Private agreement and operator disclaimer

Contest operators generally recognize the official entrant, approved proxies, and their own registration and payout procedures. They do not act as referee for private side agreements between players.

If a private deal goes wrong, the parties may have a claim against each other, but the sportsbook will usually follow its own rules and pay according to its own records.

Survivor Atlas is not affiliated with Circa Sports, Westgate, or other contest operators. Check the current official rules before registering or entering any agreement that depends on how a contest pays winners.