Public happy to take wild swing with Mcgregor to pull off upset
Hoping for big payouts siding with underdog vs. Mayweather Jr.
Inspired by Conor McGregor’s recent prediction that he’ll knock out Floyd Mayweather Jr. “inside four rounds,” the Westgate sports book posted a prop on their Aug. 26 boxing match.
Will McGregor win in rounds 1 through 4? Yes is plus-900 and no is minus-1,600 after opening at minus-2,000.
“So far, we’ve written 30 bets and all 30 of them are on the yes,” Westgate sports book manager John Murray said. “Everybody’s also betting on Conor to win by knockout (7-1) and in all the different rounds. Every day, there’s just more and more bets on Mcgregor.”
Mayweather is a minus-700 favorite to win the fight and Mcgregor is a plus-500 underdog at most books, the majority of which continue to get inundated with Mcgregor money.
“Everybody will need Mayweather for as much as they can stomach,” William Hill sports book director Nick Bogdanovich said. “The public is just going to keep taking Mcgregor between 5-1 and 6-1 odds.”
The Westgate and CG Technology sports books each reported ticket ratios of 15-1 in favor of Mcgregor and the ratio is almost 40-1 at MGM Resorts, which has taken more than 2,500 wagers on Mcgregor and only 65 on Mayweather.
“Everybody’s still dreaming,” MGM Resorts sports
book supervisor Lori Plew said.
Headed for record handle
Mayweather’s megafight against Manny Pacquiao generated an estimated betting handle of $50 million in golf history, bettors lost Sunday on Callum Shinkwin, who went off at 290-1 odds to win the Scottish Open and needed only to par the final hole to cash some big tickets. Laying two near the green on the par-5 18th, Shinkwin left his chip short and then left his putt 4 feet from the cup. He then missed the short par putt for his only bogey of the final round and lost on the first hole of a playoff to Rafa Cabrera-bello.
“He can make par on that last hole 99 times out of 100,” Bogdanovich said. “The one time he doesn’t, it cost him the tournament.”
William Hill college football contest
The William Hill College Pick’em football contest is open for registration.
The entry fee for the city’s biggest college-only contest is $500 and each contestant can have up to four entries. Contestants select seven college football games against the spread from a designated menu of 25 games.
The 10-week contest runs from Sept. 8 through Nov. 11 and there is $75,000 in guaranteed cash prizes. The most notable change from last year’s contest is that the top 10 places will be paid instead of only three. The contest is 100 percent payback and the winner can earn a $25,000 bonus for picking 49 winners (49-21, 70 percent) or better.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@ reviewjournal.com or 702383-0354. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.