Mayweather vs. Pacquiao PPV Prop Bet Soars Over; Financial Recap
Online sportsbooks set the line for the total number of Pay Per View (PPV) buys for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao super-fight at an average line of 3.15 million total buys.
The prop was priced at -215 for the over, so $215 won $100, and had a generous return of +170 or $170 for every $100 bet.
There was particular interest amongst sports bettors and financial pundits on where the total number of PPV buys would land; SBR's own Zack Jones spoke with Forbes.com about the prop bet.
A report broke yesterday by Yahoo Sports that the fight sold 4.4 million PPVs, which means that all sports bettors who wagered the over 3.15 million cashed their tickets with considerable room to spare (though there were no "action points" or bonus points for beating the number so easily), the prop is notable for how sportsbooks got it so wrong.
It was not all bad for online sportsbooks. The owner of 5Dimes, Tony Williams, had the following to say in response to questions from SBR on how his sportsbook made out.
SBR: This fight set all kind of financial records. Was the level of wagering at 5Dimes on this event in line with that?
5Dimes:"Wagering volume on the fight could be compared with an AFC or NFC Championship game."
SBR: Wow. It is now breaking that there were over 4 million PPV buys, most books had the line at 3.15. 5Dimes offered dozens of prop bets except for this particular one, why is that?
5Dimes: "We chose not to offer that prop based on what was presumed to be a nightmare delay in grading."
SBR: What was the Mayweather Pacquiao prop bet that players did the best on?
5Dimes: "Mayweather by "any decision", by "12 round decision", by "KO / unanimous decision."
SBR: Same question in reverse, what was the biggest loser for players with props?
5Dimes: "Any knockdown, any knockout, draw, exact ending round props."
SBR: Was Mayweather's victory a good thing (financially) for the house?
5Dimes: "Anything but a draw was a great outcome for the house."
SBR: Can you tell us what the biggest bet you accepted was and on whom?
5Dimes: "One client hit the reduced juice $500 limit on Manny Pacquiao (prices of +190 to +200) a total of one-hundred twenty times. Total risk $60000."