Las Vegas bettor puts $880K on Mayweather to beat McGregor
It’s not quite the $1.1 million wager a bettor placed on his phone app on the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. But a South Point bettor on Friday made an $880,000 wager on Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to beat Conor McGregor in the unofficial Super Bowl of combat sports.
The bettor, who asked to remain anonymous, placed his bet at the South Point sports book at minus-550 and will win $160,000 if unbeaten boxing champ Mayweather (49-0) defeats UFC star McGregor in their Aug. 26 boxing match at T-Mobile Arena.
“We were flooded with McGregor money so I was more than happy to take the bet,” South Point sports book director Chris Andrews said.
The ticket count is 10-1 in favor of McGregor at South Point, which moved the price on Mayweather to minus-575 following the biggest bet placed on the fight in Nevada thus far. Andrews said the South Point still has a liability on McGregor but that the $880,000 wager helped balance the action on the bout.
Whoa! The money is starting to come in on @FloydMayweather at the @southpointlv. Biggest bet in Vegas yet? @VSiNLive pic.twitter.com/Kw4VGDOQPe
— Mitch Moss (@MitchMossRadio) August 11, 2017
“We still need Mayweather,” he said.
Two weeks before the megafight, Las Vegas sports books stand to lose millions of dollars if McGregor pulls off an upset.
The liability is close to $2 million on McGregor at MGM Resorts sports books and is well over $1 million at William Hill sports books.
The betting handle on the fight is expected to exceed that of Mayweather’s May 2015 bout with Manny Pacquiao, which generated an estimated record handle of $50 million.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.