Las Vegas: Floyd Mayweather helped Las Vegas sports books turn a profit by winning a unanimous decision against Manny Pacquiao in the most-wagered bout in boxing history.

Mayweather entered the fight as a 1-2 favourite and the majority of bettors picked the underdog. At William Hill US sports books in Nevada, 75 per cent of tickets were on Pacquiao.

“It was definitely a profit for the state,” William Hill sports book manager Nick Bogdanovich said in a telephone interview after the bout. “In the majority of the fights, we’re always rooting for the favourite. The masses always bet the underdog. They always want to take a big price.”

At least $50 million (Dh183 million) was expected to be wagered in Las Vegas on the bout, according to RJ Bell of handicapping information website Pregame.com, a handle more than double the previous high for any boxing match.

“We had a 4-1 ratio of wagers on Manny to Floyd, but most of the big tickets were on Floyd,” Bogdanovich said.

The proposition bet for the number of rounds the fight would go was a winning one for the majority of bettors. With an over/under betting line of 11 1/2 rounds for the 12-round fight, 84 per cent of the money wagered was on the fight going the distance and being decided by the judges.

Mayweather won by scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112, unifying the welterweight titles.

On the prop bet for whether Mayweather would win by a decision, 94 per cent of bettors took the “yes.” Those bets accounted for 73 per cent of the money wagered.

A prop bet on whether Pacquiao would win by decision was also a winner for bettors. That prop had 57 per cent of the money wagered on the “no” side, even though 96 per cent of the tickets placed were on “yes.”

The sports books avoided their worst-case scenario, which would have been a draw. A draw would have resulted in a push, meaning sports books would have had to return most of the money bet on Mayweather and Pacquiao, then pay out those who bet on a draw at odds as high as 18-1. William Hill had taken at least one bet for a draw in excess of $100,000.