There is a new vogue among males and a few females now. I mean our youth and quite a number of the elderly.
A big investor in the new vogue, when he was interviewed by journalists, called it the new stock exchange for the masses. A participant says it is better than oil and gas.
People gather to watch soccer on the telly, especially during weekends. Some of them will be so serious with the game that, if possible, they might jump into the screen. Others will be contented with praising or scolding the players as if those ones could hear.
Furthermore, they normally refer to the teams they support in the first person singular. They go to the extent of spending a lot of money on the clubs’ mementoes and memorabilia.
When they argue in favour of their teams, they do it with so much passion that lawyers will envy them. However, some of those arguments end up in fisticuffs. We’ve had cases of one person knifing the other because of foreign soccer.
You are welcome to the world of football betting.
It is a matter of luck. But how many Nigerians believe that?
When two teams are playing a football match, any one of them could win. Even in some cases where the odds are against a team, it could be the one that would carry the day. Some teams could be technically equal, but on the field of play, it could be another story entirely.
It is the team on which the God of soccer smiles that will carry the day.
Punters employ certain skills to try and win. Styles like home win, away win, handicap, full game draw, first half win, full game win, half time draw, 2x,1x,how many corner kicks before half time, how many throw-ins,etc.
The more the odds, the more the winning expected. There are some intrigues in the game. One of them is that it is people who do not understand the tricks of the game that tend to win more. Second is that, somehow, women win much more than men. The aforementioned could be validly challenged anyway.
We have many people who have used a hundred naira to win more than a million naira.
However, it is not winning that really matters, it is what the money won is used for.
If one is a business man, for instance, and he wins a large amount of money, the chances that he would plough the funds into his business are very high. But if a large sum is won by a layabout, the chances that he will waste the money and return to his old life in a couple of months are so high.
However, some people use two hundred thousand naira, for instance, to bet for a probable win of two hundred and fifty thousand naira. And, they may lose because in a game of chance, winning is not automatic.
Football betting has empowered a new set of people as agents. The agents are the ones punters stake their bets with. They, in turn, are paid fractions of the stakes.
They only need about one hundred and fifty thousand naira. And, they are in business. They could even add a television viewing centre, depending on the area, to make more money.
An average punter is a busy man. Some are even called professors. They will study the games and pick the matches they want to bet on. They will then watch the matches. Of course all these are tiresome.
While people in Europe and America believe it is a game of chance, Nigerians believe otherwise. They, therefore, visit medicine men for better luck. As expected, they discover to their chagrin that it does not go that way.
It is only a few people that win. However, punters generally help each other out. The person that wins will provide food and drinks for the unlucky ones. It may be their own turn, too, in the not too distant future. It could be one of the reasons petty thieves are not many again.
However, there was a case of someone spending more than he won on drinks for his friends!!!
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