{"id":20119,"date":"2017-08-25T07:44:43","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T15:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=20119"},"modified":"2017-08-25T07:44:43","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T15:44:43","slug":"odds-move-toward-mayweather-mgm-coy-about-cotai-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/odds-move-toward-mayweather-mgm-coy-about-cotai-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Odds move toward Mayweather; MGM coy about Cotai plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Las Vegas<\/strong> gears up for the Floyd Mayweather<\/strong>\/Conor McGregor<\/strong> clash of the tomato cans, rationality is starting to manifest itself in the betting lines. Several large wagers — two as big as $1 million —\u00a0\"\"presumably from ‘sharps,’ began hitting Strip sports books<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

The books aren’t out the woods yet. According to an ESPN<\/strong> article, “William Hill<\/strong>\u00a0said, even with Thursday’s $1.2 million bet on Mayweather, the book still faces a seven-figure liability on McGregor.” Westgate Las Vegas<\/strong> 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\u00a0Mayweather\/Manny Pacquiao<\/strong> tilt two years ago.<\/p>\n

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<\/strong>, well into the early morning<\/a>. (Mayweather conceptualized Girl Collection while in the slammer on a domestic-violence beef: “I\u2019m in the liquor business. [The girls]\u00a0sell you a fantasy and I sell you liquor.\u201d) If Mayweather gets clobbered, he’ll have no but himself to blame. Said McGregor,\u00a0\u201cWho gives a bollocks, mate? I\u2019d say the place stinks. Looking at it on All Access<\/em>, it stinks.\u00a0No disrespect to the people who are in there.”<\/p>\n

* Incidentally, the teetotaling Mayweather is planning to open a marijuana dispensary. Will this imperil his lucrative relationship with MGM Resorts International<\/strong>? After all, Nevada<\/strong> 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?<\/p>\n

* MGM, for its part, has other worries — like how to get its fair share of the Cotai Strip\u2122<\/strong>. The company is playing it cool<\/a> about when it will open MGM Cotai<\/strong>. CEO Jim Murren<\/strong> put the opening in 4Q17 \"\"but that was back in April and casino openings rarely go according to schedule. MGM China<\/strong> CEO\u00a0Grant Bowie<\/strong>, meanwhile, is being cagey about where MGM expects to get its Cotai revenue. While MGM Grand Paradise<\/strong>, in the heart of Macao<\/strong>, 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.<\/p>\n

* The Oklahoma<\/strong>-based Osage Nation<\/strong> is making a play for Missouri<\/strong> 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<\/strong> (R) to plead their case. Gov. Eric Greitens<\/strong> (R, pictured<\/em>) 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.<\/p>\n

So how do the Osage get around IGRA<\/strong>? By arguing that they have ancestral land claims in southwestern Missouri<\/a>. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke<\/strong> 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<\/strong>, about 90 minutes’ drive southwest of St. Louis<\/strong> (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<\/strong> pay almost that much, we can see Greitens holding out for tax parity, refusing to give the Osage a preferential rate. We shall see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 —\u00a0presumably from ‘sharps,’ began hitting … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[62,224,11,39,207,115,25,74,31,9,20,184],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20122,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20119\/revisions\/20122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}