Pacquiao-Mayweather fight not yet made, but betting line is

[Kirkland Laing]

Station Casinos are not the best indicator of Vegas odds as they operate none of the big strip hotels, more the smaller motel like casinos.

The man to watch is Jay Rood, who is in charge of the MGM Grand Sportsbook, & effectively sets the odds for the proper strip casinos. For a human, he's very rarely wrong, he in fact pulled the odds to an even fight after the De La Hoya-Pacquiao weigh-in before making Pac the favourite the following night. These guys examine every little aspect so whoever they make favourite IS the favourite.

Betting odds reflect how much money is going on each fighter, that's it. The odds aren't designed to reflect the actual odds of victory of a person/horse/whatever, they're designed to make the person offering the odds a profit no matter what the result.

Don't think thats right. They open based on the most likely outcome, they are then adjusted over time based on changing factors and on the money wagered on each man.

They open with the odds most likely to take as much of the initial money as possible at odds that most favour the bookmaker. That may or may not coincide with most likely outcome, but what it always coincides with is potential profit maximisation. There's a good book about oddsmaking and how Las Vegas works that was written by a guy called Jimmy the Greek, who was a famous Vegas oddsmaker back in the day. It's a cracking book for anybody interested in this kind of thing if you can still find a copy. I don't bet a lot myself but I know people who do and I've learnt quite a bit about how the betting game works one way or another over the years.