After the opening of the Qatar World Cup in 2022, the football discussion group formed by Zhang Tian (pseudonym) gradually became active again.
As a major sports event held every four years, among the 32 participating teams in this World Cup, who will win the "Hercules Cup"? Apart from loyal fans, there are also greedy gamblers who care about this topic.
In Zhang Tian's chat group, the income generated by gambling has become the most common content, and there are many shouts inviting everyone to participate in the betting.
"Before the opening of this World Cup, I almost forgot the existence of this group. There is no way, the World Cup is too hot, and gamblers want to get a piece of it." Zhang Tian introduced to the reporter of Beijing Business Daily.
Different from the sports lottery sold through official channels, underground gambling platforms with higher odds and more diverse participation methods are undercurrents surging on various public social platforms.
They bypass the platform review in a secret and special way, and attract users to participate in gambling through words such as "steady profit" and "guaranteed compensation".
The "black lottery" that evades supervision, unpredictable game results, and endless scams...all show that this is a dangerous game full of traps.
Proxy flood
Underground gambling hides on social platforms
Zhang Tian "entered the pit" during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
That year, the World Cup also showed a fiery trend of national carnival, and Zhang Tian, who was still a college student, also participated in the lottery purchase.
After graduating from university, Zhang Tian became a staff member of a lottery betting shop and learned more about sports lottery.
In recent years, Zhang Tian has been in various lottery exchange groups and is well versed in the ways of them.
"In this type of communication group, guessing the score and showing the income are the most common content. In addition to the players who exchange their experiences, there are also agents of many underground gaming platforms hidden, targeting some users who are interested in gambling. During the World Cup, it is It’s a good time for them to develop customers. If you pretend to be a ‘Xiaobai’ in the group, someone will contact you soon.” Zhang Tian said.
In fact, since the opening of this World Cup, agents of underground gaming platforms have also become active.
A reporter from Beijing Business Daily used "World Cup" as a keyword to search various public social platforms and found that although the platform authorities have implemented a series of control measures such as blocking, deleting posts, and blocking accounts for such "small advertisements" that promote underground gaming platforms, There are still many "fish that slipped through the net" - promoters hide the gambling platform website or contact information in the form of homophonic characters and setting animations.
On December 4, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily joined some communication groups based on such information, and then some users actively sent applications to add friends, and further introduced different underground gaming platforms and recommended "big gods bring orders".
Among them, the "big god brings orders" mainly uses "analysts" to predict scores and guide users to designated platforms to participate in betting.
During the period, new users continued to join the group by scanning codes, etc., and the group announcement also reminded that the QQ group is easy to be blocked, and guide users to other communication platforms to participate in the discussion.
Within 10 minutes after joining the group, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily received recommendations from five gaming platforms.
Judging from the information displayed by several underground gaming platforms, none of these platforms can be downloaded from official mobile app stores, and they can only obtain apps through QR code scanning authorization, direct download of installation packages, etc., or bet directly on the official website .
Some of these platforms also mentioned that they have overseas gaming licenses and designated betting platforms for the World Cup in Qatar.
The information displayed on the homepages of many gaming platforms are all World Cup events, and a limited-time event for recharging and giving gifts has been launched for the World Cup.
Users need to recharge a certain amount before they can participate in betting.
The customer service of a platform called Yabo Sports told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that the minimum recharge amount on the platform is 100 yuan, and the specific betting needs to be based on the amount displayed on the page, and corresponding bonuses will be issued after the game.
On the recharge page, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily noticed that the platform provides as many as 11 deposit methods. In addition to the routinely used bank card transfer, online banking payment and other methods, virtual currency and digital renminbi can also be used for payment. .
In some payment methods, it also prompts "It is recommended that you deposit the amount with a mantissa (eg 101, 503), so that the deposit can be matched to the account faster".
"The recharge amount with a mantissa is actually to avoid the recharge risk of the capital account and reduce the possibility of being controlled by the risk." Zhang Tian said frankly that there are a large number of such underground gaming platforms, and the so-called "overseas gaming license" and other backgrounds are not Unreliable, on the one hand, its authenticity needs to be verified, on the other hand, regardless of whether it holds an overseas license, such platforms are banned in China, and they are all "black lottery".
High commission
It is difficult to resist the risk of private ownership
The underground gaming platform hidden in a hidden corner, weaves a tight net with layers of agents to "salvage" customers.
Reporters from the Beijing Business Daily learned from many sources that in the "black lottery" industry chain, the gaming platform is the banker, and develops trading users by recruiting agents.
Agents post information such as handicap (predicting the outcome of the game), correct score (predicting the score of the game) and odds on the public social platform, invite users to participate in the transaction on the designated gaming platform, or directly help users place bets, and collect commissions from them .
Yabo Sports is also widely recruiting agents.
According to the official website, currently, Yabo Sports is attracting traffic for its flagship store Kaiyun Sports, and strongly recommends users to register as Kaiyun Sports agents.
It should be noted that, unlike other conventional referral rebates, underground gaming platforms also require users to incur losses before rebate operations.
Zhang Tian pointed out that becoming an agent of a gaming platform has low barriers to entry and high returns, so it has become the choice of many unemployed people.
But the wool comes from the sheep. If the agent wants to obtain commissions from the gaming platform through users, then the users he brings must be able to generate income for the gaming platform, which will inevitably require users to generate financial losses.
The company also confirmed Zhang Tian's statement to the Beijing Business Daily reporter.
According to the customer service of Yubo Sports, if you become a new agent of Kering Sports, you can get a 55% commission.
The starting amount of the commission is the total loss incurred by active active members within a month, minus the net loss obtained after deducting the bonuses, rebates, and platform service fees they received.
In addition, when the reporter asked how long the 55% commission can last, the aforementioned customer service only said that the agent support activities are updated every month, and you can consult the platform planner after registering as an agent.
This also means that the agency's new business is not done once and for all. In order to create more profits, some agents have put their ideas on private dealers.
In the multiple football communication groups Zhang Tian belongs to, people often post information about "buy ball private chat", inviting users to communicate with each other to gamble.
A reporter from Beijing Business Daily conducted an actual measurement experience.
On November 28, before the start of the second round of the World Cup Group G match (Cameroon vs. Serbia), in the communication group where the reporter was located, the group owner reminded all members to contact a member in the group by sending red envelopes "Buy the ball".
Subsequently, the reporter got in touch with the user Liu Jie (a pseudonym) who claimed to be an agent.
Liu Jie showed the reporter of Beijing Business Daily an information sheet of Cameroon and Serbia, which recorded different odds of various betting methods.
However, when asked which gaming platform he was using and whether he could provide a proof map of the betting information, Liu Jie remained silent, only saying that he would place the bet directly, starting from 50 yuan for a single bet, and the settlement can be completed after the game is over .
Finally, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily transferred 100 yuan to Liu Jie via WeChat transfer, betting on Cameroon's victory in the game.
After the first half of the game, Cameroon fell behind Serbia 1:2, and then Liu Jie continued to ask the reporter whether to follow the order and continue to bet on the score or win or lose.
In the end, the game ended in a 3:3 draw, and the reporter lost all of his principal.
Before the start of the next few games, Liu Jie also took the initiative to ask the reporter of Beijing Business Daily whether he would continue to place an order.
"This is the 'black dealer'. After collecting funds from users, they do not participate in betting on the gaming platform, but sit on the bank and gamble with users. Usually, the agency commission ratio of gaming platforms ranges from 2% to 10%. And under this trading mode, the 'black bank' can get all the lost funds." Zhang Tian commented, but the personal risk resistance ability of being a banker is lower, and it is difficult to guarantee the odds when encountering a large amount of money, and it is easy to run away with money the way.
play fancy
Unpredictable results of the platform "lie win"
Why are underground gaming platforms attractive?
Zhang Tian told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that compared with the official sports lottery, various underground gaming platforms play more fancy games and are more gambling in nature.
Specifically, in various competitions, the official sports lottery often selects representative sports competitions, and the quiz categories are mostly score, wins and losses, handicap wins and losses, total goals, etc., so as to reduce the betting cost. gambling.
"On the underground gambling platform, there are many kinds of games that can be guessed, and the categories of guesses are even more varied, including but not limited to who scored the first goal first, who scored the most goals, which team replaced first or Even if there is no major event, users can gamble on this kind of platform at any time,” Zhang Tian said, “On the other hand, underground gambling platforms set higher odds, and they can also bet on the game during the game. Buying is also more attractive to people who gamble, but it also means increased risk."
Odds are the product of the gaming platform, and they are also one of the most concerned issues for gamblers when they participate in gambling. In each game, the odds of different results are different.
For example, according to the information sheet provided by Liu Jie, in the handicap selected by the Beijing Business Daily reporter, the odds of Cameroon winning are 4.85, the odds of the two draws are 3.6, and the odds of Serbia winning are 1.76.
According to the information provided by Liu Jie, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily made further calculations.
After betting 100 yuan on Cameroon's victory, the user can make a net profit of 385 yuan if Cameroon wins.
If you want to follow up the order and re-guess the result of the game, if you also bet on a tie with 100 yuan, the user can get 360 yuan and a net profit of 160 yuan; if you bet on Serbia to win, the user needs to invest at least 150 yuan again under the corresponding odds , the betting cost can be covered, and the user earns a net profit of 14 yuan.
If Cameroon still wins after chasing the order, the funds for chasing the order will also reduce the scale of the "black village"'s compensation.
In Zhang Tian’s view, these complex playing methods seem to allow users to hedge risks when gambling, but they are actually a means for dealers to ensure their maximum profits.
Zhang Tian pointed out that in football-related gambling games, the gaming platform is the banker, and the odds are accurately calculated according to the record, strength of the two sides, and the funds that users bet on. Before the official start of the game, the odds will continue to change. Make sure the gaming platform is profitable.
The stronger the party, the greater the probability of winning, and the lower the corresponding odds.
This difference in odds is even more intense when the strength of the participating teams is very different.
In the sixth round of the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals held in the early morning of December 6, the football powerhouse Brazil played against South Korea. According to the data at 0:00 on December 6, Brazil’s odds of winning were 1.13. The odds for a draw are 5.55, with South Korea winning at 13.5.
In addition to the most straightforward wins, draws, and losses, there are also many ways to play such as betting on scores in gambling.
However, the 22 people running on the field and the football that has been scrambled are not data that can be accurately predicted. They have no fixed way of operation, they are full of variables, and have more uncertainties.
Just during this World Cup, from Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia in the first match, Japan reversed Germany and Spain one after another, and then South Korea beat Portugal, such uncertainties were also staged one after another.
"Some people bet a lot of money on the upset of a strong team, and some people want to "buy the other way" to pursue higher odds. There are too many such stories in gambling, and the dealer will always win in the end." Zhang Tian sighed.
Nine out of ten bets
Stay away from high-stakes gambling scams
Although people in the exchange group where he belongs are constantly discussing, analyzing, and predicting the game situation, and some people often share the benefits, Zhang Tian has always insisted on his bottom line and has never participated in the gambling game of the underground gambling platform.
The reason, Zhang Tian said frankly, the "Bad tragedy" in the 2014 World Cup semi-finals is still fresh in his memory. The host Brazil lost 1:7 to Germany, which can be called tragic.
"From then on, I understood that everything is possible on the court. In the online world, it is difficult to distinguish between the real and the real. It is easy for gamblers to become the bankers' leeks. Gambling for wealth is even more of a test. Human nature, and the best way to avoid sinking is to stay away from it. Nine times out of ten bets, someone will think that they are the one who can win, but I don’t think so.” Zhang Tian said.
On December 6, a reporter from the Beijing Business Daily sorted out and found that since the start of the World Cup, the police in Fujian, Shenyang, Tianjin, Shanghai, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hangzhou and other places have disclosed the crackdown on gambling cases, including for the Internet. The gambling app platform conducts various illegal activities such as agent drainage, private online casinos, and use of gambling to commit fraud. There are many participants in school students, and some even go to the abyss of online loans, theft, and fraud after gambling.
Talking about the risks of gambling, Yu Baicheng, president of Zero One Research Institute, pointed out that it is not only illegal to attract fans with higher leverage in online gambling, but it may also hide traps and scams.
The World Cup gambling scam is similar to other Internet fraud routines. It is combined with various hot topic scenarios, but its essential method is to lure or threaten, set traps to gain trust, and finally achieve fraud by obtaining account information and other information.
Yu Baicheng said that illegal gambling websites are mixed with good and bad people and are not protected by law. After fans recharge and participate, there may be situations where they may be embroiled or unable to withdraw cash even if they win the game.
In addition, if fans click on fake phishing websites and various unknown advertising information, they may be infected with viruses, leak personal information, or suffer property losses.
On the other hand, underground gaming platforms use agents to promote, agents recruit customers for gaming platforms, and users go to the black industrial chain of gaming website transactions, which involves more than just financial risks.
A reporter from the Beijing Business Daily also interviewed its customer service about the compliance of Yabo Sports for domestic users and how to ensure the safety of users' funds, but as of press time, no reply has been received from the other party.
Li Ya, a lawyer from Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm, said that in my country, it is only legal to participate in the World Cup game guessing through a state-approved lottery center, and betting on other underground gaming platforms is illegal.
The behavior of underground gaming platforms and agent soliciting customers belongs to the behavior of opening casinos in the case of online gambling crimes, which may constitute the crime of opening casinos depending on the circumstances.
Users participating in illegal gambling is a gambling behavior, and it also constitutes a crime if the situation is serious.
Yu Baicheng also emphasized that gambling is illegal, and it is easy to become addicted or even deceived.
Fans should constantly improve their knowledge of online survival, stay vigilant, and never trust information from unknown sources, especially manage sensitive information well, and protect account numbers, mobile phones, bank cards, passwords, etc., so as not to give scammers a chance machine.
Beijing Business Daily Financial Investigation Team