[toc]Las Vegas sports books are fond of boxing. However, this Saturday, they were particularly enamored with Floyd Mayweather.
This weekend, Mayweather, who now holds a 50-0 record, saved the Nevada gaming industry from potentially devastating multi-million dollar losses. Business Insider reported that if his opponent, Conor McGregor, had won, Nevada bookmakers would have faced losses amounting to $48 million.
As anticipated, Mayweather emerged victorious. While the outcome was not shocking, the weekend betting still managed to astound and impress Sin City.
More bets placed than the Super Bowl?
The Mayweather/McGregor bout was described as a unique scenario by many professional gamblers, who considered it as surefire winnings. It was a match between one of the greatest boxers of all time and an MMA fighter who had just recently joined the sport. Due to the heavy odds favoring Mayweather, making any significant money required placing large bets.
John Murray, the oddsmaker and manager of Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, told ESPN Chalk, “There has never been an event quite like this. Total novices, who would normally never bet on boxing, are doing so. On Saturday, we had lines for 13 hours.”
ESPN predicts that approximately $85 million was staked on the match through sports books and sports betting apps. The majority of the money was bet on Mayweather, with a minimum of six bets of a million dollars each. Conversely, most of the tickets were small wagers on McGregor.
The fact of the matter is, even at his highest odds of -700, Mayweather was still considered a good bet according to professional gamblers. The Against All Odds podcast indicated that Mayweather’s odds were more in the realm of -5,000. However, due to the unusual character of the match, a larger than expected amount of money was placed on the underdog.
Darren Rovell, ESPN’s sports business reporter, offered a fascinating comparison on the day of the fight:
Jay Rood, Director of MGM Race & Sports Book, states that excluding prop bets, tonight’s fight has a higher betting volume than this year’s Super Bowl.
This was written by Darren Rovell and posted on August 26, 2017.
Westgate informed ESPN that they believe this was the most profitable boxing match in the illustrious history of the book.
Mayweather himself tried to get in on the action
One wager attracted noticeably more attention than the others. Mayweather made an appearance at the M Resort to place a $400,000 bet at their sports book, operated by CG Technology. He wished to wager that he would triumph in less than 9.5 rounds. The management consulted with state gaming officials, who stipulated that Mayweather could only bet on the outcome of the match, win or lose.
Mayweather informed ESPN that he provided funds to a friend to place a bet on under 9.5 rounds at a different location. He stated that the friend was only able to wager $87,000 on the action, with odds of -200 on the bet.
It’s crucial to mention that Mayweather emerged victorious after nine rounds and one second of the match, indicating that the $87,000 bet turned out to be successful.
Image Source: Jenya Matrosov via Shutterstock.com
