Conor McGregor mania hits Las Vegas sports books

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 Nevada and many in the sports book industry expect the Mayweather-McGregor bout to surpass that figure.

“It’s got a real good chance,” Bogdanovich said. “It’s going to be a monster handle.”

More than five weeks before the fight, the handle is already more than $1 million at CG Technology sports book, according to vice president Matthew Holt.

While Holt said 90 percent of the bets are on McGregor at his shop, there is actually more money wagered on Mayweather, including five bets of $50,000 or more.

Wynn sports book director Johnny Avello said he’s taken multiple six-figure wagers on Mayweather and multiple five-figure bets on McGregor.

How low will odds go?

CG Technology and the Wynn each already lowered the odds on Mayweather to minus-600 at different points to attract action on the favorite and the odds might ultimately drop to minus-500 or lower.

“There’s going to be such a liability around town on Conor,” Murray said. “I wouldn’t be surprised at all if some of the books got down to (minus-)450 or 500 the day of the fight.”

Bad beat on golf bet

In one of the worst beats 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.

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