Those tomato cans Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor were very good for business when they battled on August 26. “It could 
be a while before we see money like this bet on a fight again,” said Betfair‘s Katie Baylis. Indeed. Betfair took in its biggest handle ever: $79 million, of which $16 million was wagered in the last five hours before the slugfest. In Las Vegas, sports books logged $65 million in bets, $15 million more than the tainted Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao bout. (The latter had a torn rotator cuff yet the fight was allowed to proceed as scheduled.) The match had a ripple effect on casino play, which saw revenues up 16% in the Las Vegas area and even 10.5% higher in tiny Mesquite. The Nevada Gaming Control Board‘s Michael Layton said, “This fight was a tremendous event from a gaming win perspective for not just sports wagering but also table games and slots.”
* With Stanley Ho pretty much a vegetable, son Lawrence Ho is taking the moment to throw shade on his father’s alleged inability to remain competitive in the casino industry. “My father 
was super lucky to have a monopoly for forty years, but the Macao government wanted to open it up to competition. It was the right decision,” the younger Ho told the South China Morning Post. While Lawrence believes “Macao will always be the best integrated resort gaming market in the world,” he also says of Japan, “Nothing will hold me back there.” Considering that MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Sands have already put $10 billion apiece on the table that’s mighty rash talk. We’ll see if Ho fils knows something we don’t. Frankly, Las Vegas could use some of his bold thinking.
* Las Vegas’ propensity for themed luxury suites is being consciously aped by casinos in Australia. Casino critic Stephen Clark opines on three suites in the Astral Tower of Sydney‘s Star Casino, one of which puts him in a Fifty Shades of Grey frame of mind. Yowzers! Too much information.
