Читать книгу Rise of London Gambler. Second edition - Serik Jumanov - Страница 9

October was approaching so John and Mike had to make payment to a landlord. Mike needed to talk about it with John who never delayed any payments due. It is why he was very happy to see John when he entered his room.

“May I? Look, we have to pay rent soon; here is my part, but… I am afraid next month I am moving to…”

“Why? How are your bets going? You didn’t make money?” asked Mike, starting to worry.

“No. The things did not go so well. I tried everything, but the things went crazy. It’s like a spell on me, I don’t know. I did everything according to statistics and match expectations, but I always needed either one more goal scored or one more corner taken. All shit like that. I decided to stop,” said John sadly. “It was a nice try anyway.”

“Sure, John. You will make it, I feel it.”

“Thanks, mate. We’ll see. Maybe some day… I am planning to place small bets, just for fun and experience. Listen, I am sorry for causing these troubles you’re gonna have – you know, finding a new roommate etc – but now I cannot afford £500 per month to rent a room.”

“I see.” sighed Mike. “Come on; tell me, how bad is your situation? I can lend some money…”

“No-no, it’s all right.”

In fact, John’s situation was pretty bad now. He lost not only the money he won at the beginning but also a significant part of his savings. Now, he had only about £1,000 which would let him survive for a couple of months if he finds a cheaper room, plus he was expecting to get back his £750 security deposit from a landlord. He had 6 months remaining till the graduation, so his budget was pretty tight now.

“Okay, man, let’s have some tea. We did not talk lately; I saw you were busy and nervous, so I kept leaving you alone. By the way, Darren also asked me why you changed recently, and I said you are busy with your studies.”

For a tea, they had milk, toasts, jam and chocolate cream. That was their usual ration.

“Sometimes I was so close to winning big money. Sometimes even up to £100,000. I made double, triple, four-fold, and even fourteen-fold bets sometimes. And every time there was one bet or two bets which lost. Damn, I started to feel the matches are fixed!” said John desperately.

“Fixed? It’s against the law, isn’t it??”

“Yes, it is, but it doesn’t mean there are no fixed matches, right? Remember few cases in Italy when Juventus and Milan were relegated for fixing matches? Or in Turkey? Some clubs were fined in Turkey for fixing their matches! And I am sure there are many small clubs which fixed their matches too, but they are not on the news.”

“Are you sure??”

“Well, not really sure but I have a feeling that there is something which looks like if some matches were fixed. If I feel the match is not fixed, almost all my bets win. But sometimes match goes just the opposite way I expect, and I can’t explain why. For example, when we play in Saturday League, the matches are pretty clear and simple, right? I just dream they allow us to make bets on those matches! You can see which team is stronger and whether it can win. Usually stronger team wins more corner kicks and gets less yellow and red cards. I checked our games we had – they all are in line with my theory. Well, maybe I made mistakes in my predictions a couple of times, but when I bet with bookies, results were catastrophic!”

“Well, professionals play very tactical games, not like us,” said Mike. “We just kick the ball and run, we don’t have any tactical approach, I think.”

“Right, I thought about it too! So I bet in-play when I see how the game is going, and what to expect from the teams. Even so, many of my bets lost! How could it be?? I don’t get it! I just don’t get it!!!”

John went out for a smoke and Mike joined him. They sat in a backyard garden as usual. It was nice and silent here, apart from street noise. John really liked smoking here where nobody could disturb him.

“Thought about finding a job? Maybe you should try FOREX or stock-market again?” asked Mike.

“No, no way. Turnover in bookmaker industry is three times larger than in FOREX market. By the way, it also makes me think that somebody fixes the matches. It’s a big-big money, and there is always someone struggling with club budget etc. A temptation is high, and people are weak usually. If there are known black dealers in FOREX market – which is three times less than bookmaking one – then how many match fixers are there? I don’t know for sure but I suspect that there are plenty of them.”

“Well, up to you, man, whatever you think. If you need a job, I can ask my friends, maybe they can find something for you.”

“Thank you. I am trying too, but all I found by now is a job of a part-time football coach. I will have to conduct training sessions on Saturdays – exactly when we have our games for Fulham Compton – I really need to choose, but I wanna play since I promised Darren, remember? And I really wanna play!” said John.

“By the way – it’s good you reminded me – I talked to those guys you wanted for our team. Rickets, who you said is perfect for a left midfielder, and that tall guy, his nickname is Stix (not sure if it’s right for us to call him so), Jay Jay and Gareth are ready to play for us, but they cannot pay for playing in the team.”

“Wow, it is great news! Darren told me he is bringing one central defender from Fulham Compton third team since the guy is frustrated to be in reserve all the time. I feel that we’re gonna have a hell of a team!”