As Las Vegas gears up for the Floyd Mayweather/Conor McGregor clash of the tomato cans, rationality is starting to manifest itself in the betting lines. Several large wagers — two as big as $1 million — 
presumably from ‘sharps,’ began hitting Strip sports books, moving the line back toward where it should have been in the beginning: Mayweather. The latter is responding with some trash talking of his opponent, implying that McGregor won’t even be on time for the big event.
The books aren’t out the woods yet. According to an ESPN article, “William Hill said, even with Thursday’s $1.2 million bet on Mayweather, the book still faces a seven-figure liability on McGregor.” Westgate Las Vegas counted 12 bets on McGregor for every one on Mayweather. (Maybe bettors 
are tired of Mayweather’s invincibility and want someone to hand him his ass on a plate.) However, the average Mayweather bet, while fewer in frequency, was bigger. At least the expected handle will probably break the record set by the tainted Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao tilt two years ago.
And how is the reigning champion preparing for the big night? Doing what any sensible pugilist would: Hanging out at his strip club, Girl Collection, well into the early morning. (Mayweather conceptualized Girl Collection while in the slammer on a domestic-violence beef: “I’m in the liquor business. [The girls] sell you a fantasy and I sell you liquor.”) If Mayweather gets clobbered, he’ll have no but himself to blame. Said McGregor, “Who gives a bollocks, mate? I’d say the place stinks. Looking at it on All Access, it stinks. No disrespect to the people who are in there.”
* Incidentally, the teetotaling Mayweather is planning to open a marijuana dispensary. Will this imperil his lucrative relationship with MGM Resorts International? After all, Nevada gaming regulators look askance at casinos having ties to the cannabis industry. Or does Mayweather’s subcontractual status give him a protective one degree of separation?
* MGM, for its part, has other worries — like how to get its fair share of the Cotai Strip™. The company is playing it cool about when it will open MGM Cotai. CEO Jim Murren put the opening in 4Q17 
but that was back in April and casino openings rarely go according to schedule. MGM China CEO Grant Bowie, meanwhile, is being cagey about where MGM expects to get its Cotai revenue. While MGM Grand Paradise, in the heart of Macao, is VIP-driven, MGM Cotai is expected to pivot toward the mass-market. It will also have to cope with what is likely to be a small allocation of table games — and having only one other Macanese casino limits the amount of “cap-and-trade” it can do.
* The Oklahoma-based Osage Nation is making a play for Missouri and for what would be the Show-Me State’s first non-riverboat casino.To lubricate the machinery of legislation, the Osage have engaged former Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley (R) to plead their case. Gov. Eric Greitens (R, pictured) should also be favorably inclined, having received $52,000 from the Osage for his 
inauguration. They’re also entering a market that would give them a monopoly on tribal gaming.
So how do the Osage get around IGRA? By arguing that they have ancestral land claims in southwestern Missouri. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke may find that a stretch but, so far, he’s been sympathetic to tribal claims. The Osage casino would most likely be in or near the town of Cuba, about 90 minutes’ drive southwest of St. Louis (which has plenty of casinos of its own). It’s far too early to know what sort of revenue-sharing Greitens might want but Missouri’s private-sector casinos pay 26%. Given that tribal casinos in Connecticut pay almost that much, we can see Greitens holding out for tax parity, refusing to give the Osage a preferential rate. We shall see.
