Volume 1: From Poverty to Wealth Chapter 12: William Hill's Fixed Odds

  In the north of London, where Greenwood and Leeds intersect, few people in the country know about this place... However, when it comes to the world's three major legal gambling companies, William Hill is a household name for domestic football fans or gamblers. It's just like how stock traders understand the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

  What? You don't know William Hill? Okay! Stay away from soccer betting, cherish your life! Because you must be in the country or Macau, in a small gambling company's black庄! William Hill is after all a legitimate gambling company, listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2002. In 2005, William Hill acquired 624 betting shops in the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man and Jersey for over ￡500 million, making it the largest player in the UK betting market, surpassing Ladbrokes. However, the Fair Trade Commission forced it to sell 78 of these betting shops under the "Unfair Competition Ordinance". Due to the impact of its aggressive acquisition, its market value fell out of the FTSE 100 index in December 2005.

  Thomas stood in the presidential suite on the top floor of the William Hill Hotel, walking to the floor-to-ceiling window. Looking out at the flowing traffic outside the window. The road was lined with limousines, and he turned his head to look at his secretary, Kristini: "Dear Kristini, how much did we pay for Royal Madrid to raise David's transfer fee?" Kristini looked at the data report in her hand and said: "Thomas, we spent nearly 20 million euros to raise David's value. I'm asking Thomas, was it worth it?"

  Thomas pushed his black-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose and chuckled, "David Beckham will be thrilled about our sponsorship efforts." Kristini shrugged her shoulders and said, "Thomas, I heard you're thinking of taking a vacation to some far-off ancient country in the East as our chief actuary? I think the big boss won't agree! Do you know how many people around the world want your job? They could drown you with just one mouthful of saliva!" Thomas laughed and said, "Haha... beautiful Kristini, my little treasure. The big boss hasn't even approved my vacation yet! Before that, I've already calculated the global attention-grabbing Spanish Derby in a few days!" He handed over the application documents to Kristini.

  "Oh my god! You actually opened such a disk? Royal Madrid gave Barcelona two and a half goals? Barcelona gave Real Madrid one goal? I think Barcelona will go crazy! Barca fans must curse you!" He then took the calculation report file and turned to leave.

  Thomas as a handicapper for William Hill has to consider many things, including the team's strength foundation, whether they cooperate with the bookmaker or not, the team's sense of honor and so on.

  It's usually teams from South America or the top five European leagues that are more reliable. They work very well with betting companies and always have unexpected results. Because they really do have that strength!

  Perhaps some officials are encountering this topic for the first time, so let's popularize some relevant knowledge. To illustrate, if Real Madrid is given a one-ball lead over Barcelona, it means that teams with similar strength have a score where Real Madrid wins by one ball over Barcelona. The gamblers will neither win nor lose money. Only when Real Madrid wins 2-0 over Barcelona will the gamblers make money. If they are given two balls, meaning 3-0, then the betting company will make money. A 2-2 score means that Barcelona fans will win money. What about two and a half balls? It means that in a situation where Real Madrid is tied with Barcelona 3-3, all gamblers will be winners, and only when it's 4-2 will the betting company make money!

  Let's take a look at a simple arithmetic problem. Real Madrid vs Barcelona. The odds are already set by Thomas (2.05:1), which means if Real Madrid wins, they will get 10,000 (principal) + 10,000 x 2.05 = 30,500 yuan. If Real Madrid is tied or defeated by Barcelona, then the entire 10,000 yuan will be lost.

  That's the end of popularizing knowledge, and at the same time reminding everyone that actuaries are old ladies holding babies drinking porridge. It's called despicable and shameless! They take money from people's wallets all over the world! Cherish your life and stay away from gambling on football matches!

  At this time, the Chinese mainland was already shrouded in darkness. Li Xiaoteng, who was resting at home, was still entangled in the problem of gambling funds. The first pot of gold is still hoping to be more beneficial, not that the heart is as big as the world, but the capital has a certain amount, and the income will have a certain amount!

  Lying in bed, Li Xiaoteng was tossing and turning with a troubled mind. His phone rang. Li Xiaoteng picked up the phone from his bedside table and couldn't help but curse silently: "Sick Zhao Baozi! It's already 2 am and he's still calling himself." After some thought, he still pressed the answer button.

  Today's phone call was strange. Li Xiaoteng usually answers Zhao Baozi's phone calls, and Zhao Baozi always shouts: "Teng Ge Wei Wu! Teng Ge Dang Yang! Teng Ge Ji Mi~" like the eternal password "Tian Wang Gai Di Hu, Bao Ta Zhen He Yao!" Generally, whether there is something or not, Zhao Baozi always shouts two sentences, first to enhance the centripetal force between brothers, and second, Zhao Baozi may always want to show off his high emotional intelligence!

  But today is strange, endless silence on the phone......

  Li Xiaoteng felt strange and thought to himself, "Could it be that Zhao Baozi is intentionally harassing me?" This kind of thing had only happened to him in high school. It was just like when he was in kindergarten and tricked Zhao Baozi into giving him toilet paper, leaving Zhao Baozi squatting in the bathroom for half a day.

  Just as Li Xiaoteng was about to hang up, he heard Zhao Baozi's voice: "Teng brother, are you asleep?" Li Xiaoteng said irritably: "Two o'clock and still not sleeping! Only a mad writer like Sanlang would do such a thing! Only a writer like Li Jiaxiao would stay up at two o'clock, updating frantically! I'm not sick!"

  Zhao Pangzi said dejectedly: "Teng Ge, I'm now at the foot of your building, can you come down and keep me company? Something happened to the spicy hot pot stall today!" Li Xiaoteng immediately sat up upon hearing that something had happened to the spicy hot pot stall. He said: "Wait for two minutes, I'll go down right away!" Then he put on his clothes stealthily, like a thief sneaking into a house, and quietly opened the door of his own home, looking at his parents' room across from him with the door closed. Li Xiaoteng didn't dare make a sound, putting on his shoes without even daring to lock the front door, fearing that his parents would hear the sound of him sneaking out. Anyway, having Zhao Pangzi and himself guarding the entrance, whether or not the door was locked was irrelevant. Not locking the door was actually because he feared his parents would worry about him and not let him go out!

  The old residential area has no streetlights, only a row of streetlights along the street, and I don't know when the mischievous kids used slingshots to smash the light bulbs. Fortunately, the moonlight is sufficient today.

  Li Xiaoteng looked down at Zhao Paozi under the moonlight, pushing a second-hand flatbed cart with a dejected expression! On it, the plastic foam box was still filled with all sorts of spicy and numbing skewers. Li Xiaoteng took a look at Zhao Paozi, only to see that his round chubby face didn't have a single scar. His clothes were also very clean and tidy.

  Strange asked: "Was robbed?" Zhao Baozi shook his head. Li Xiaoteng continued to ask: "Did you lose money?" Zhao Baozi still didn't speak and shook his head again.

  Li Xiaoteng became even more bizarre and said: "Don't tell me you got someone else's wife pregnant! You're quite something, kid!"

  Under the moonlight, only Zhao Baozi's small eyes were visible. Suddenly, a pair of crystal tears flowed out! Li Xiaoteng was anxious at that moment! He wanted to shout loudly, but was afraid of disturbing the neighbors' rest, so he lowered his voice and said: "Damn it! Are you a man or not? What can't be said? You actually gave me a cat's urine here! Are you itching?"

  Zhao Pangzi pointed to the hot pot on the car and said, "Teng Ge, I'm not doing hot pot anymore. I found out I just can't do it!" Li Xiaoteng was immediately speechless. He walked around the cart in a circle and asked helplessly, "Did you encounter the legendary underworld?"

  Zhao Pàngzi shook his head and said, "I spilled a big half of the mala tang soup you left for me. But I put down the seasonings according to your method yesterday. However, the old customers who came yesterday said that this mala tang tastes completely different from yesterday's. The difference is too great. Look..." He pointed to the box containing the mala tang, "All the things are here, and not many portions have been sold, at most less than twenty portions!"

  Li Xiaoteng looked at Zhao Baozi and said speechlessly, "You call me, I'll just adjust a pot for you, isn't that done?! Why are you acting like a big girl?!" Zhao Baozi choked with sobs, saying: "Teng brother, I found out I'm not cut out for this! I can do some work. But doing this, it's really not something I can handle!"

  Li Xiaoteng casually plucked a bok choy stem. He pinched off a leaf, put it in his mouth and chewed. "Dong Ge, how about this? I'll invest in your hot pot stall! I want 51% of the shares! What do you think?"

  Zhao Pàngzi listened to this and felt very surprised, but his face suddenly cleared up from cloudy to sunny! He nodded vigorously and said: "Great, great!" Then his face darkened again and he said: "You're a university student, and I'm just a junior high school dropout running a spicy hot pot stall! It's too unfair to you! Let's forget it!" Li Xiaoteng kicked Zhao Pàngzi with one foot: "What are you mumbling about? I used to sell fake mobile phones at Yangqiao Bridge!"

  "That's different, you were diligent and thrifty back then! Now is your best time, you should go work for a big company!" Li Xiaoteng heard this and suddenly cursed: "Damn it, what's the value of university students nowadays? If you stand on top of the Xidan building and throw down 100 steel needles, out of 100 people hit, 90 are university students! And one is studying for a master's degree and two are postdoctoral researchers! That's how it is! I want 51% of your shares, I'll invest with technology and funds! Are you in or not?"

  Zhao Pàngzi hesitated again: "What about Uncle and Aunt's side?" Li Xiaoteng angrily said: "I'll go talk to them!" Zhao Pàngzi happily said: "Good!" But immediately he was puzzled again, asking: "Then why do you want 51% of the shares when investing?"

  Li Xiaoteng rubbed his temples and said, "I want absolute control! I want the right to speak!" Zhao Pianzi muttered to himself, "From childhood to adulthood, haven't you always gotten your way? What's with this fake humility?"

  Li Xiaoteng looked up at Zhao Baozi, who hastily said: "Hehe, goodnight, goodnight. Tomorrow noon I'll come find you!" After that, he got on his rickety cart and drove off with a flourish.

  The radiant Gu Zong had not slept for more than two days. Suddenly, on a large Simmons bed, Gu Zong was seen embracing a naked beauty with a red cherry on her chest. He caressed and pinched it gently. After a while, he leaned down to lick it lightly. The two were drenched in sweat, chatting idly about something. It was clear that they had just finished an intense battle. But who knows if they were taking a halftime break or had already reached the final round!

  At this time, Mr. Gu's phone rang, and he picked it up with a scolding tone. His expression immediately turned serious as he answered the call, and he casually made a "shh" gesture to the beautiful woman.

  "Has Little Guo gone to sleep?" asked the voice on the other end of the phone. General Manager Gu hastily replied, "Director Bai! I haven't rested yet, I'm reading something right now! What's up?"

  "Oh! Hehe, it's great that young people love to learn. Your financial knowledge is so good, it must be related to reading books. I usually like to read fantasy novels. From now on, I'll have to keep up with you and read more urban novels, which are more knowledgeable than fantasy ones!"

  You came and went, exchanging pleasantries, and Mr. Gu asked: "I don't know what's going on with you calling so late?" Mr. Bai said: "Just now the top called, originally this time it was supposed to be a five-year sentence according to Hua Xia law. But through connections, no need to go to jail! However, there are still some problems!"