All-round Athlete

On March 20, 2003, the US and British coalition forces launched an attack on Iraq. Within a month, they controlled most of Iraq. In July 2003, Iraq established an interim government. In December 2003, Saddam was arrested. But the shadow of the war is still shrouded in Iraq’s territory. Car bombs and human bombs are constantly attacking. In addition to the green zone established by the Americans, Iraq cannot find a safe place.

It is a miracle in itself that the Iraqi football team can enter the Athens Olympics under such conditions. They have experienced economic sanctions for more than 20 years, experienced wars, no equipment, no funds, no training venues, and are constantly advancing with their willpower.

Although the IOC has always claimed that the Olympics does not involve politics, the political significance of Iraq’s participation in the Olympic Games is indeed greater than the participants or the game itself. The Iraqi delegation took part in the Olympics.

The story of the Iraqi football team is very touching, and the Iraqi athletes are also worthy of respect, but touching and respecting can’t bring money. The European spinach firmly believes that the Iraqi team that has just experienced the war is the most important football game in this Olympics. The weaker one has the highest odds for the Iraqi team.

“Iraq’s odds to enter the semifinals, Ladbrokes 1 loses 50, William Hill 1 loses 60, Ribo 1 loses 80… This odds is very good, buy it and earn.” Zhang Guan took notes related to the compensation Rate, and then clicked on the odds of the first Iraqi team in the Olympic group stage.

“The Iraqi football team played against Portugal in the first game. Let me see. The odds of winning and losing are the victory of Portugal! If the score is…a very high odds! 1 for 100, 1 for 180, and 220 for 1 and 500 for 1!”

Zhang Guan looked at the odds of Iraq’s 4:2 victory over Portugal. The odds offered by various companies are undoubtedly the highest numbers, and even some companies have offered odds of 1 to 500.

“Make money, I really want to get rich this time!” Zhang Guan secretly applauded.

Zhang Guan knew that the Iraqi team was the biggest dark horse in the football match of this Olympic Games. They not only qualified in the group, but also broke into the semifinals. In the first Iraq game against Portugal, Iraq beat Portugal 4:2.

…

Zhang Guan wrote the number and situation of the item he wanted to buy and the amount to be purchased on the paper, and went to one of the betting counters.

The counter clerk looked at the Oriental face and knew it was a foreign tourist, so he asked in English: “Hello, sir, what service do you need?”

“I want to bet on these.” Zhang Guan handed the note to the clerk.

Zhang Guan’s mother is a high school English teacher anyway, so Zhang Guan’s English level is not bad among high school students of the same age. Basically Chinese people learn dumb English. Zhang Guan’s current English level can only cope with daily life However, foreigners listening to Chinese speaking English are similar to Chinese listening to foreigners speaking Chinese. Even if it is a grammatical error, a wrong word, a non-standard pronunciation, not fluent speaking, you will not speak after half of the speech, etc. Understand the general meaning.

The clerk turned out a note and confirmed: “Are you going to buy football to enter the semi-finals in Iraq?”

“Yes!” Zhang Guan answered.

“Opap bets 5000 Euros, Ladbrokes bet 2000 Euros, William Hill bet 2000 Euros, Ribo bet 2000 Euros…” The shop assistant confirmed all Zhang Guan’s bets and said: “In this way, all bets need a total of 30,000 Euro. Are you sure?”

The clerk wrote the number 30,000 on the paper while he was talking. He was afraid Zhang Guan did not understand it, so he expressed it in written numbers.

“Yes.” Zhang Guan confirmed.

A one-time bet of 30,000 euros, even if the European tourists are local tyrants, the clerk did not expect that Asian tourists are so rich. More importantly, Zhang Guan voted for Iraq to enter the semi-finals, and the odds are all extremely high. The clerk naturally thought that Zhang Guan was the kind of gambler who only bought high odds.

“Sir, because the amount exceeds the limit, opap bets 5000 euros need to be confirmed by the company, you can reduce the bet amount, or you can go to the VIP customer lounge over there to wait, confirming that you will not waste too much time.” The clerk said Said.

Zhang Guan frowned slightly. The regular European spinach companies will limit the amount of bets. For some large-volume bets, the spinach companies will also review and confirm that the simple point is that the spinach companies have to evaluate and cannot accept this business. It also avoids malicious betting by business opponents. For example, in many novels, the protagonist bets hundreds of thousands at a time, the regular company will not accept, only the black market transactions will take orders.

Zhang Guan had already inquired about this from the Greeks in the Olympic Village, so he bet the funds separately. The amount of each company’s bet is only two or three thousand euros. The purpose is to avoid the large-scale betting audit of the spinach company. The reason why opap bets the most is because opap is a Greek company, and the amount of bets accepted in Greece is higher than other companies.

For a bet of 1 to lose 80, and invest 2,000 euros, the spinach company has to accompany 160,000 euros. Zhang Guan feels that the big spinach companies in Europe will not review and confirm for 160,000. And the fact is the same. Those bets of two or three thousand yuan are passed without any review.

Opap’s odds for entering the semi-finals in Iraq are 1 for 100, and a bet of 5,000 euros for a spinach company will accompany 500,000. This has reached the standard of opap’s verification and confirmation, so opap should review this bet and consider Let’s see if we should do this business.

Zhang Guan did not go to the lounge, but took out another piece of paper and handed it to the clerk again.

“I want to buy these, and may also need to be checked and confirmed by the spinach company.” Zhang Guan said.

“Okay, sir.” The clerk took the piece of paper, then widened her eyes, all with incredible expressions on her face.

“Sir, are you going to buy Iraq a 4:2 victory over Portugal? Are you sure you didn’t write it back?” the clerk asked.

“No reversal.” Zhang Guan nodded, and the clerk’s reaction did not go beyond Zhang Guan’s expectations.

“Okay, sir.” The clerk calculated that Zhang Guan’s bet was the same as the previous one. Each spinach company had two or three thousand euros, but the odds were much higher than the previous one.

“These add up to a total of 28,000 euros. This gentleman, I need to confirm with you again. You are buying Iraq’s 4:2 victory over Portugal. Are you sure you have written the correct position of the two teams?” the clerk asked.

“Nothing wrong, I think Iraq will win.” Zhang Guan answered.

“Okay, then.” The shop assistant started betting for Zhang Guan.

At this time, a middle-aged man who had just finished betting happened to pass behind Zhang Guan. This man was wearing a khaki suit and carrying a black briefcase. He heard Zhang Guan talking with the clerk and immediately came over .

“Sorry, man, if I heard correctly, you just bought Iraq to defeat 4:2 Portugal?” the middle-aged man said.

“Yes.” Zhang Guan answered.

“Oh my goodness, you shouldn’t buy it. How could Iraq beat Portugal? I don’t understand the Iraqi football team. Maybe he is strong in Asia, but when they come to the Olympics, they are definitely at the bottom of the level, and Portugal, but this It’s popular to win the Olympic Games.” The middle-aged man stretched out his fingers and said while counting: “The Portuguese team has Costa, Almeida, Ribeiro, Bosingwa, Almot, Alves, all of which are It is the best group of young guys in Europe. Maybe you are not familiar with these people, but the Portuguese team also has Cristiano Ronaldo! He is now Europe, no, is the most talented football player among young people in the world. Portugal is so powerful Powerful, how could Iraq beat Portugal? And it’s still 4:2, such an exaggerated score…”

The middle-aged man spoke English faster and faster, and Zhang Guan didn’t understand much at the end, but in the end he talked about Ronaldo’s name, but Zhang Guan understood it.

Zhang Guan smiled slightly and said, “I think the odds are high, so I bought Iraq.”

“High odds? Oh, God! I really don’t know what you think, you just throw money into the fire. Well, I have nothing to say, I can only thank you for your contribution to the Greek economy “” The middle-aged man shook his head and turned away.

At this time, the clerk also completed the betting process.

“Sir, there are a lot of bets that need to wait for the spinach company to verify and confirm, because it involves foreign companies, the verification and confirmation time may be slightly longer, so you may have to wait one to two hours.” The shop assistant said.

Zhang Guan nodded, this time he reduced the amount of betting, but because the betting odds are higher, the final return is more, so there are more spinach companies to review.

“I still need to buy something else. This time it’s an athletics event.” Zhang Guan handed the third piece of paper to the clerk.

The clerk turned up the paper and looked at it and said, “Are you going to bet on the men’s 100-meter sprint event in track and field, and Chinese guan-zhang won the championship?”

The clerk obviously did not know that the Chinese put the last name behind, so he directly pronounced Zhang Guan’s name as “guan-zhang”.

“Yes.” Zhang Guan nodded again to confirm.

“So how much are you going to buy?” the clerk asked.

This time Zhang Guan did not write down the bet amount on the paper.

“Each spinach company is 500 euros. If it is not verified, then buy another 500 euros, until the money in my bank card is spent.” Zhang Guan answered.

…

Opap company headquarters.

The phone sounded, the supervisor picked up the receiver, and the other party said, “Boss, there is a bet that requires confirmation.”

“Got it.” The supervisor put down the phone, picked up the mouse and clicked in the computer a few times, and saw the information about the bet.

“5000 euros bet on the Iraqi football team to enter the semi-finals! According to the odds, if Iraq really enters the semi-finals, it will accompany 500,000.” The supervisor smiled self-deprecatingly, thought to himself secretly: “Where is this coming from?” Madman, how could Iraq enter the semi-finals! This is simply to send money!”

The supervisor moved the mouse and gently clicked to confirm the agreement. Then returned to the previous interface, but found that there is a new bet that needs to be reviewed and confirmed.

“Hey, it’s Iraq again. The Iraqi group stage defeated Portugal 4:2! Oh my god, why are there so many lunatics today, and the lunatic asylum closed!”