Mayweather v McGregor: Irish bookies pay out early… on a Mayweather win

Irish bookmakers Paddy Power are renowned for their publicity stunts, and this week is no exception as they've opted to make some noise ahead of Mayweather v McGregor by paying out early, FOUR DAYS before the fight.

Boldly declaring: "We’ve made the £250,000 pay-out this morning, despite more than 80% of our customers backing the Notorious one," the bookie explained they would settle the bets of punters who placed their bets on Mayweather to win the fight outright before midnight last night UK time.

WATCH Paddy on the strip in Las Vegas explain why we've paid out early on #Mayweather to beat #McGregor#PPinVegaspic.twitter.com/HQLFVolOaA

— Paddy Power (@paddypower) August 23, 2017

“We’re spinning the roulette wheel a bit here – as getting it wrong would see a serious Mac Attack on my bank balance," said spokesman Paddy Power in a statement this morning.

“But, when you’re backing Mayweather, you’ve basically covered the whole board anyway.

“Patriotism aside, we are paying out early on a Mayweather victory – because we checked, and only one of them is a boxer. We always bet on black.”

The questionable final sentence – and the strapline used to promote the early payout – is bound to raise eyebrows, especially given some of the accusations thrown around during the build-up to the contest.

But Power explained: "Two of the great movies of all time, Passenger 57 and also Lego Batman, one of the great lines from those two movies is 'Always bet on black.'"

I'd have reported the early payout story here anyway, so personally I'd have preferred to see the promotion without the questionable strapline.

But as people (wrongly) say, any publicity is good publicity…