Saturday Mega Fight Falls Short of Expectations, but not for Sportsbooks

by Raphael Esparza - 5/4/2015

The Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight is being calleda mega flop, but the Las Vegas sportsbooks were happy with the outcome. Mayweather won Saturday night by decision, and I cashed -130 on that prop. The overall decision was the best outcome for the Vegas books, including MGM, which hosted the fight.

Mayweather entered the fight as a 1-2 favorite, and MGM closed at -240 (I'm sure MGM had the most risk on The Strip). I still can't believe that Mayweather was not a 1-3 favorite because he was the better fighter then and now.

The net result for the MGM books was a win of over $1 million dollars, and Lamarr Mitchell, MGM sports book director, told me if Pacquiao had won they also would have made some major coin. Off the Vegas Strip, many books didn't get the late Mayweather money like MGM did, but those off-The Strip properties still made a profit with the Mayweather decision.

Talking to guys from Las Vegas sportsbooks and offshore sportsbooks, they all agreed that they avoided the worst-case scenario Saturday night. That elephant in the room was the Draw result. Conspiracy theories, rematch and of course more money was the reason why the Draw was a very popular bet for this Fight of the Century. A draw would have resulted in a push, meaning sports books would have had to return most of the money bet on Mayweather and Pacquiao then pay out those lucky bettors who bet the Draw at odds as high as 20-1 or higher. If a Draw would have happened, the Las Vegas ticket writers would have been in for a very long evening, and those writers already worked a long afternoon because of the Kentucky Derby.

No matter what people say on the outcome of the fight or lack of fight, this was a profitable Saturday night for the Vegas sportsbooks and I'm sure the offshore books.

Raphael Esparza is one of the top handicappers when it comes to Boxing and UFC, and this Saturday he throws out more ring winners. He scored a big profit last weekend in boxing, and in 2015 alone he is 17-4 in fight action with $100 bettors up over $6725. Get his Saturday 'Other Sports' picks for only $40, or new clients can take advantage of Doc's no-hassle $60 free picks offer and get Esparza's weekend picks and still have a $20 credit to use for any picks from any handicapper on the site. Click here for $60 worth of free picks.

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