Betfair Benefit from Mayweather Win

When Floyd Mayweather defeated Conor McGregor at the T-Mobile Arena on August 26th the bosses at Betfair must have breathed a huge sigh of relief. Before the fight, Betfair revealed that 80 per cent of all punters who placed bets on the fight backed McGregor, meaning that the UK based online gambling company saved millions of pounds on payouts on the underdog. The showdown, nicknamed ‘The Money Fight’ netted Mayweather and McGregor an estimated $100m and $30m respectively and it looks like the bookies made a tidy profit too!

The Money Fight

The Mayweather vs McGregor fight captured the public’s imagination like no other sporting event this summer. The event, touted by some as the biggest boxing match of all time, lived up to all of the hype with McGregor going toe to toe with Mayweather for large periods. The American eventually dispatched the Irishman in 10th round taking his record to 50-0 and ensuring him a place in history as one of the greatest boxers the sport has ever seen.

An Underdog Story

As soon as the matchup was announced Mayweather was the odds on favourite largely due to his 49-0 record and the fact that the fight was to be McGregor professional boxing debut. Mayweather’s longest odds on Betfair hit 1.29 the week before the fight while McGregor hit a low of 4.80 following the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s decision to use 8oz gloves instead of 10oz. More than £15m was wagered on the match at Betfair making it by far the biggest boxing match in the history of the site, smashing the previous record of £9m. It has been estimated that more than $80m was wagered on the fight with at least two reports of bets in excess of $1 being placed on Mayweather winning.

Huge Profits

Despite Mayweather being the obvious choice for the win, Betfair punters backed McGregor in huge numbers. The unrelenting optimism of ‘The Notorious’ fan base meant a McGregor win would have been a disaster for the bookmakers and the potential for record-breaking losses. The total saved by British bookmakers alone as a result of Mayweather’s win is estimated to be around £250m with Business Insider reporting that bookmakers paid out £50m rather than a possible £300m. The day after the fight saw Paddy Power Betfair experience one of its biggest rises on the FTSE 100 since its formation in 2016 with a rise of more than one per cent. However, it wasn’t bad news for all punters with William Hill reporting that one customer netted $200,000 from a $1.2m on a Mayweather win.

About Betfair

Betfair is one of the world’s largest online gambling company’s boasting the world’s largest betting exchange. The company was founded by Andrew Black and Edward Wray in 2000 and has headquarters in Clonskeagh in Dublin and in Hammersmith in West London. In 2016 Betfair merged with Paddy Power to create Paddy Power Betfair in a deal worth an estimated $12 billion. The Betfair casino is powered by Playtech, the largest online gaming software company in the world providing their site with a wide range of slots, table games, poker and live casino.