Pacquiao-Mayweather fight results in high stakes betting in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines – Someone in Cebu is P1 million ($22,366) richer following Manny Pacquiao’s loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr in the “Fight of the Century.”

Crowdsourcing on social networks from government officials and lawyers the night before the May 3 fight revealed a P1 million bet was placed on Pacquiao that was supposed to win at an odds of P1.8 million ($40,260).

Since Mayweather won the fight, the bettor’s opponent has doubled his million.

The source, a former Cebu City Hall ranking official, said that the bet was officially sealed between two of his businessman friends, one who operates a car franchise, and the other, a resort and real property developer in Metro Cebu. 

The former official said he too placed a bet on Pacquiao and lost P50,000 ($1,118).

“I conditioned myself that I did it for charity. When I placed my bet on the table, I already thought of it as gone,” said the official who requested anonymity.   

At the Cebu Business Park where corporate workers and BPOs are based, the betting for the fight went up as high as P250,000 ($5,591) on a bet made inside a barber shop, while a lawyer source said he heard of a betting price tag of P300,000 ($6,710) in neighboring Mandaue City.

For fun, some call center agents based at the IT Park in Cebu City placed bets on their colleagues at an average of P5,000 ($111.8).

In Bais City, Negros Oriental Province, a bettor’s wife from the same crowdsourcing process said that some bets went as high as P20,000 ($447.3).

While businessman were making high-stake wagers, ordinary Cebuanos watched the Pacquiao fight by crowding in areas where the boxing match was streamed via Satellite Pay-Per-View.

In fact, all covered sports gym in barangays (villages) of Cebu and Mandaue cities were showing live PPV for free.

As early as 9 a.m., this private household along J. Solon Drive in barangay Lahug that had set up a screen projector to show the fight was already mobbed by neighbors.

Excited and smiling Pacman fans with their children were seated in mini-chairs in front of the wide screen while having breakfast, while most of the rowdy male neighbors crowded at the back enjoying the undercard fights.

To protect themselves from the intense heat from the dry spell, a tarpaulin served as a makeshift tent with the help of jeepneys specifically parked near the area to serve as support for the tent.

 In this congested residential area where residents are mostly workers from the nearby Cebu Business Park, betting was high as P80,000 ($1,789) for the Filipino boxer. 

While the residents crowded the live streaming PPV in J. Solon Drive, the usually traffic congested N. Escario Street leading to Ayala Center Cebu Mall was almost empty with only a few motorists on the road. – Rappler.com

 $1 = P44.71