We already know that the Fight of the Century is big in terms of the main players and the money that those players — Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather — are set to receive for partaking in the boxing match. But the Fight of the Century is also on pace to become a record-breaker in another area.
It has a chance to be the biggest betting event — outside of football — in the history of Nevada.
According to Sporting News, who spoke with a number of different experts on the matter, somewhere between $50 million and $80 million will be wagered on the fight.
MGM Resorts VP of race and sports, Jay Rood, told Sporting News that he thought the handle could reach $80 million. South Point bookmaker, Jimmy Vaccaro, guessed $60 million. And John Avello of The Wynn estimated it would fall between $50 million-$60 million.
“It’s always a guessing game,” Vaccaro told Sporting News. “The only thing we can go on is guessing past history and understanding that this is the most anticipated fight we’ve seen in quite a while … This will be the biggest handle for a non-football event [ever].”
This estimate actually might be conservative according to the Vice-President for Operations for the Westgate Sports Book, Jay Kornegay, who last week told CBSSports.com Video Production Manager Scott Fitzgerald that the Westgate alone expects to take in north of $100 million on wagers for this fight. Kornegay went on to say that Manny Pacquiao was getting the most attention from bettors when the fight was first announced, but as the fight gets closer, the favorite Floyd Mayweather is starting to pull even.
“It’s very typical in boxing or the betting in boxing where we see most of the early money come in on the underdog,” Kornegay told Fitzgerald. “We don’t see the favorite money come in until the weekend of the fight. And that is what we are seeing on this one. The only difference is the amount of bets we have been taking on this fight have been through the roof.”
All told, the numbers for this fight are expected to be through the roof. According to Kornegay, there is a range of reports that rank the total take for the fight between $500 million and $1 billion dollars.
Yeah, that’s billion … with a B.
Those numbers include ticket sales, pay per view proceeds, hotels, bars and restaurant tabs. Pay per view sales will be the deciding factor. The fight is expected to be seen in three to four million homes, which would generate an estimated $300 million in revenue alone.
