McGregor Continues to Baffle Bookmakers

Sportsbook managers around the world are still baffled how many people are betting on Conor McGregor to defeat Floyd Mayweather. While the odds have leveled off, the percentage of bets coming in on the underdog haven’t. McGregor is still getting roughly 90 percent of the bets. At some establishments it’s even higher.

“At Caesars Palace sportsbooks, 140 of the first 144 bets were on McGregor, who was paying back around 5-1,” ESPN reported. “Almost all of the early action was small and placed by recreational bettors. One sportsbook manager described it as ‘square-a-palooza.’”

That doesn’t mean some big bets haven’t been placed on McGregor. They have, including several that have been in the six-figure range.

Most sportsbook managers say they don’t mind needing Mayweather to win. They firmly believe he will. But where it gets scary is that they stand to make a few hundred thousand if he wins. But they could lose several million if McGregor pulls the upset.

When the sportsbooks opened the line at Mayweather -2500, some felt it wasn’t high enough. They were wrong.

“We knew there’d be some interest in McGregor,” Jay Kornegay of Westgate race and sports, told ESPN in July. “But the skill set, in a boxing match only, was so lopsided that we didn’t think we were going to be able to make it high enough. You make a number based on what type of money and flow of money that you would expect at the counters. It’s not necessarily the true odds; it’s just reflective of the betting patterns that we expect to see.”

Regardless of what happens, both fighters are going to make a lot of money. Mayweather told TMZ Sports he was looking at close to $300 million. Whether true or not, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. He earned roughly $225 million for his fight with Manny Pacquiao.