Celebrity Gamblers: Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

People everywhere, whether they’re fans of online casino gambling or not, reliably love both celebrities and gambling.

This is especially true of beloved athletes. Fans of sportsmen and -women over the whole world treasure that feeling of truly rooting for their favorite players on the sporting field. When they win, it truly feels like part of the success is shared, as is the sorrow that follows a loss.

How much more compelling is it, then, when the wins of a Phil Mickelson or a Michael Jordan – both of whom are notorious gamblers – can be measured in dollar signs instead of advanced stats?

Things get more complicated when the athlete in question is… how shall we put this…

… not very nice?

This brings us to Floyd Mayweather Jr., who may well be the greatest pound for pound boxer of all time. His serpentine, almost liquid fighting style can be astonishingly beautiful, as well as impossible to defeat.

He’s also an objectively terrible person.

A noted and repeat abuser of women, he also regularly brags about his success and flaunts his obscene wealth to an extent that would embarrass the most obnoxious middle schooler imaginable.

What’s more, he’s one of the most flamboyant gamblers in the world today. While he tends to focus on Sports Betting, he has also enjoyed slots, poker, blackjack, and plenty of other ways to explore the limits of having way too much money.

Yet for whatever reason, we just can’t look away. When a player regularly makes bets on regular season NFL games north of $750,000, then posts videos of himself in bed with his winnings to Instagram, how can you not want to know more?

As such, here is what you need to know about the world’s least sympathetic gambler.

Sophisticated Violence in the Ring

The “Sweet Science” of boxing has been a favorite topic of debate among connoisseurs of the sport since time immemorial. In gyms, barbershops, and everywhere men gather, it seems that everyone has their take on who is the greatest of all time.

Sugar Ray Robinson? Muhammad Ali? Mike Tyson? Joe Louis? Joe Frazier?

Whatever your perspective, there’s no question that Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. has to be part of any conversation.

With a career record of 50 wins and 0 losses – only Rocco “Rocky” Marciano can share in the achievement of retiring undefeated as a champion – there’s just no way to have a serious conversation about the GOAT without Mayweather’s name taking up some prime real estate.

He may not have had the raw power of some of the other names on that list. He didn’t win by knockout all that often, but his ringcraft was so sophisticated that he seemed to simply disappear in the split second before a punch would have cleaned his clock. He was unhittable.

He also knew how to monetize this skill. Mayweather was the highest-earning athlete in the world in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2018, and his career earnings exceed $1.1 billion.

For someone who likes to place bets, that’s can bring about a very big bankroll!

…and Domestic Violence Outside the Ring

It’s quite common for athletes to be lionized whether they’re naughty or nice.

This is especially true when they seem to crave non-stop publicity, as Mayweather does. But there’s no getting around the hard fact that he is no hero…

… in fact, in his private life, he acts much more like a villain!

While there’s no question that his athletic achievements are nothing short of extraordinary, it probably shouldn’t be surprising if a man with extraordinary skill in hand-to-hand combat resorts to violence outside the ring as well.

But when he is a chronic abuser of women?

That’s ugly stuff.

And it’s not really controversial, or even a matter of debate. Mayweather has been found guilty of, pled guilty to, or pled no contest to charges of domestic battery and assault in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2010, and 2011.

That’s five different times that his violent abuse of women has been a matter of legal fact.

It’s hard to believe they were the only such instances in his life… he’s almost certainly gotten away with many, many more such incidents.

Not Undefeated at the Tables

Mayweather likes to publicize his wins, bragging in 2017 about a $87K win on wagers totally $96 on college basketball, as well as hitting a $101,250 jackpot in video poker in 2018. Not only did he post a video of his win to social media platform Snapchat…

… but he also laid all that cash out on the table, took a picture, then posted that too for good measure as well!

That’s practically chump change for Pretty Boy, however. In 2012, he posted about placing a winning bet of $1.1 million on Oregon to defeat Arizona State, which won him a profit of $1 million. Then, in 2014, he placed a whopping $815k on the Denver Broncos to defeat the New York Jets by more than 7.5 points, and won again to the tune of a tidy $600,000.

Yes, “Money” has no qualms with letting the world know about his wins.

Like most gamblers, though, he’s not nearly so talkative when it comes to sharing news of his considerable losses.

Indeed, he may have finished his career undefeated at 50-0, but his gambling life is a different story entirely.

Take the 2014 Super Bowl. One of the most lopsided games in the history of the NFL Championship Game, the Denver Broncos were embarrassed by the Seattle Seahawks by a brutal score of 43-8. That loss left the franchise miserable, but probably not nearly as miserable as Floyd, who had reportedly bet $13 million on the Broncos. He lost every penny of that wager.

In fact, IB Fantasy Sports reported that his decision to come out of retirement for the 16,014th time to fight Manny Pacquiao was primarily motivated by the need to pay his gambling debts…

… rumored to be in excess of $50 million!