Money (Mayweather) Makes the World Go 'Round

Floyd Mayweather likes to show off his money, so much so that his fight nickname, "Pretty Boy" has been supplanted by "Money." "Money" carries a wad so large that it's difficult to get ahold of and a few years ago he joyfully showered $100 bills from the mezzanine of the Hard Rock Casino on to the little people below. His twitter posts boast of his sports betting acumen and the size of his wagers. This one, the 49ers -1.5 -115 at the Seahawks on Christmas eve is interesting for several reasons, besides the fact "Money" bet $400k.

At most sports books, the line on this game was 2 except for a couple of hours around the time this bet was made when, at some casinos, (including, obviously, M resort)  the line dipped to 1.5 before moving back up and closing at 2.5. As it turned out, "Money" Mayweather got an excellent number. The final score of the game: Niners 19 - Hawks 17. Cha ching! for those who laid SFO -1.5. Push for those who laid or took 2, but also, cha ching! for those who took Seattle +2.5. There is a good chance the sports book got middled. That means, not only did they lose the wagers on SFO -1.5, but in all likelyhood, the also lost on Seattle +2.5. Granted, it is possible that the books were out on SFO at 1.5 and 2.5, in which case the book would have won from bettors who laid SFO -2.5, but I doubt that was the case. That's the risk books take when the move they pointspread too aggressively.

Some gamblers try to middle games. They are called, appropriately enough, middlers. Most of the time they end up winning one side and losing the other and the bet costs them the juice. But sometimes they win one side and push the other, or even better, they win both sides.

The other thing I'm wondering is how "Money" Mayweather paid for his wager. The obvious way to  pay for a bet this large is with a marker. A marker is essentially just a check, which the house will hold until you buy it back with your winnings. Or the house will cash it later, sometimes at a much later date if you are a good customer. But "Money" doesn't seem like a marker kind of guy; he enjoys carrying wads of cash. But $400k! That's a duffle bag full of $100 bills. I wouldn't want to count that. Probably he just rolled over some of his smaller, more manageable, $50,000 bets. Still, at some point he gets paid in cash. For people like him, it's a shame that the largest denomination is $100. Even for small bettors, the $100 bill is sometimes too small. What a hassle. $500 and $1000 bills would be convenient. Unfortunately, Uncle Sam is opposed for reasons concerning money laundering. Digital currency would also be convenient. I don't mean ATM or credit cards, I mean digital cash. That, apparently, is out of the question, too.

However, just because the U.S. Treasury doesn't print big bills doesn't mean the casino couldn't. Many big sports bettors carry casino chips with which to wager. It's sometimes easier to bet using $1000 chips than to use cash and it eliminates some of the cash tracking paperwork that casinos need to deal with. The problem is the shape. Naturally, casino chips are in the shape of chips: not the best shape to carry around in your pocket, they're kind of heavy, and you can't put them in your billfold. But, who's to say (besides the gaming control board) that casinos can't make "chips" in the shape of bills, just for sports bettors. Then Floyd Mayweather could carry 400 x $1000 casino bill-chips in his pocket, or better yet, 40 x $10,000 bill-chips.

It's curious how your perspective of cash changes when it comes to betting. In the real world, when you get cash back at the grocery store, the biggest bill you can get is a twenty. I got excited while getting cash back at the Raley's checkout counter when the cashier asked if I wanted big bills. Sweet, I'm thinking I can get a couple of hundreds. No such luck, he meant twenties. Ha. Big bills? Indeed!