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I have never lost money in football bets
Monday, December 7
 Football appears to be more about gambling than sporting skills and sportsmanship these days. What are your views?
I swore off taking bets on football matches in 2006, after a World Cup match between Ukraine and Saudi Arabia.
I had wagered on Ukraine to score four goals, and they duly delivered. They only scored the fourth goal in the dying minutes, so my girlfriend, my poor girlfriend, she had to put up with an angry, swearing boyfriend for eighty-odd minutes, and then a nervous, chattering wreck for the final ten. Maybe there’s a clue there as to why I’m single now.
In any case, I picked up $50 from the match. Measly winnings I know, but it was my first bet and my first win. I decided that if I stopped these bets right there and then, I could go around proudly proclaiming to have never lost money in football bets.
So I did. I have never lost money in football bets. And I have not lost any of that excitement that comes with watching a competitive football match.
I can understand though why someone would feel the need to put a bet on a football match. It gives them something to cheer for, and puts you on edge in an otherwise dull match. They get the bonus of collecting a sum of money at the end if they have the guile and luck.
Athletes themselves are not averse to placing a bet or two. Certain high-profile footballers in the Premier League were reported to have blown thousands of pounds on bets involving football matches and horse races, in seek of that thrill and edge one derives from a winning bet.
Football and sports in general however, has to be attractive in the first place to draw viewers – and gamblers – to it.
Viewers are first drawn to football matches not by pure boredom, but by hearing about how Cristiano Ronaldo scored that magnificent goal. People don’t catch a tennis match for nothing, they want to see Roger Federer make that winning forehand smash. It all has to start somewhere.
I’d like to think that somewhere out there, there are people like me. People who place a bet, but don’t derive any real satisfaction from it. People who can simply enjoy watching a great goal being scored. Other people, who have never lost money in football bets.
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