Betting odds on Mayweather-McGregor took a surprise turn in the hours before the fight
Just hours before Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor finally enter the ring and face off, the odds on the fight are still moving rapidly, and not in the direction the sportsbooks expected.
Going into the weekend, the closest thing to a consensus number you could find on the fight was Floyd Mayweather -550 (bet $550 to win $100) / Conor McGregor +400 (bet $100 to win $400). As the fight grew closer and more high-rollers flew into the city, casinos presumed that a number of six- and seven-figure bets on Mayweather would come in and help offload some of their heavy McGregor liability.
For a moment this was true, with a number of million dollar bets on the favorite appearing to indicate the lowest point Mayweather's odds would reach - people who bet that much money usually know the right time to get the best number. But after even that string of big bets, enough public money is still coming in on McGregor that the odds have been driven down even further.
According to ESPN Chalk's Ben Fawkes, at the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, the odds on the fight even lower than they were heading into the weekend.
In fact, as Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review Journal reports, so many late bets have been made on McGregor that one casino has sold more tickets on the Irishman in the past hour than they've sold on Floyd Mayweather since the bet first went live over two months ago.
While it's clear that McGregor is the favorite of the betting public, when you ask the experts, not many of them give him a chance to blemish the flawless record of Floyd Mayweather.
However, if McGregor does find a way, it would be an absolute nightmare for the casinos.