Las Vegas sportsbooks endured an early multimillion-dollar sweat, but won big after Floyd Mayweather put away heavily bet underdog Conor McGregor on Saturday night.
Mayweather opened as high as a -2,500 favorite, but closed as a -500 favorite at most sportsbooks. McGregor went off as a 4-1 underdog at most books.
Mayweather stopped McGregor in the 10th round, saving Las Vegas sportsbooks from what would have been one of their most expensive losses in history. Mayweather by knockout was favored as the method of victory and was listed at -190 at the Westgate SuperBook.
Sportsbook CG Technology said Mayweather's win produced a "high-six-figure" profit for the house and helped the book avoid what would have been a seven-figure loss if McGregor had prevailed.
"Anything Mayweather is good for us," CG Technology vice president Jason Simbal told ESPN before the fight.
William Hill's sportsbook said the fight was the company's biggest decision ever and that a McGregor early-round victory would have cost the book a multimillion-dollar loss.
Caesars Palace reported a $2 million win on the fight.
The fight generated record-breaking betting at sportsbooks. By midafternoon Saturday, twice as much money had been bet on the Mayweather-McGregor fight at William Hill's Nevada sportsbooks than was bet on Mayweather's 2015 bout with Manny Pacquiao. An estimated $60 million was bet on Mayweather-Pacquiao.
At the Westgate, tickets ended up 87 percent in favor of McGregor, but money was roughly 85 percent in favor of Mayweather.
"After the dust settled, we finished on the positive side. If it went 25 seconds longer, would have been a little better, but we're very satisfied with the result," said Jay Kornegay, head oddsmaker at the Westgate.
Sportsbook directors were estimating Saturday night's fight could generate as much as $85 million in betting handle. There were six reported $1 million bets -- all on Mayweather -- placed at Las Vegas books. That's five more million-dollar bets than were placed at Nevada books on Super Bowl LI. MGM's sportsbook took two $1 million bets on Mayweather and came away a big winner.
"One of the biggest boxing wins [for our sportsbook]," MGM vice president Jay Rood told ESPN in a text message after the fight.
A late-round Mayweather knockout was the best-case scenario for Station Casino sportsbooks and resulted in one of the biggest wins ever for vice president of race and sports Art Manteris, a 38-year veteran bookmaker.
"I was sweating," Manteris admitted after the fight.