"Someone bought 300,000 yuan to bet on Germany to win. According to this trend, my store's sales in June will reach 3 million yuan," said the owner of the lottery shop. Since last week, the 2024 European Cup has kicked off. As the highest stage for European football international competitions, the European Cup is second only to the World Cup in terms of gold content and attention, thus attracting the attention of fans all over the world. After several days of competition, the favorites to win the championship, such as Germany, Spain, France, and England, have all won their first victory. In the first round of the group stage, Mbappe shed blood on the field, Yamal's magic came from the sky, and Belgium lost unexpectedly... The battle on the field was fierce, and the lottery shop below the field was also full of smoke.
Fans "Fight" for the European Cup
Everyone wants to get rich overnight
Since the start of the European Games, reporters have visited many lottery shops and found that customer traffic and turnover have greatly increased, and the business conditions of the shops have improved. The shops are crowded with young people buying football lottery tickets, and they are discussing last night's game and the plans for the next game to bet on.
"There are many ways to play football betting, from win or lose to handicap to score, over or under and so on. I have bought almost every game since the start of the European Cup, and bet one or two hundred at a time. The outcome of the first round of the group stage is still easy to guess. The current winning rate is very high, and I have made a small profit of two or three thousand. However, it is not so simple in the second round. In addition to strength and weakness analysis, we also have to calculate the points ranking, which will greatly increase the difficulty." Lottery player Xiao Kai told reporters.
According to the rules of football betting, the greater the disparity in strength in the match, the lower the odds of betting on the stronger team to win. Therefore, many bettors will choose to play with higher odds, but risk and return are proportional, and choosing higher returns means taking greater risks.
Unlike Xiaokai's steady play style, Xinxin almost always chooses high-odds options.
"You can use a small amount of money, such as a dozen or twenty yuan, to buy a score or over/under, and then bet on the outcome. This way, you won't feel bad even if you lose, and you can get dozens of times the return if you win. In addition to the conventional analysis of team strength, there are also metaphysical theories in buying football, such as market trends, the inevitable defeat of favorites, fluctuations in odds, national geography and other factors, all of which must be considered together." Xinxin seemed particularly excited when talking about his lottery buying experience.
However, when asked about the current winning rate, the other party was speechless for a moment, and Xiao Kai next to him said: "He has never won since he bought it." For a while, everyone in the lottery shop burst into laughter
Whenever there are major events such as the World Cup, Champions League, and European Cup, the number of people buying football lottery will explode. Some people buy lottery tickets for entertainment, while others imagine getting rich overnight in this feast.
100,000 sales per day
European Cup Rescue Lottery Shop
Previously, due to the shortage of scratch tickets, many lottery shops had few customers, and the income of merchants dropped sharply, and they were once in the predicament of closing the shop and transferring it. (For details, please see "Scratch ticket shortage shock wave: some merchants lose tens of thousands of yuan every month, and the boss said that running a lottery shop is not as good as delivering takeout")
Now that the European competition has begun, the once quiet lottery shops are once again full of life.
A sports lottery shop owner told reporters: "Since the start of the European Cup, the flow of people has obviously increased compared to the previous period, and the business in the shop has gradually started to pick up. Now most people come to buy football lottery. Most people buy a few dozen yuan, one or two hundred yuan, but some people buy thousands or tens of thousands of yuan in one order. During this period, the store has a daily sales of about 70,000 to 80,000 yuan, and on weekends when business is good, it can reach 100,000 yuan a day."
"During major competitions like the World Cup and the European Cup, lottery shops are the busiest, but it's also the time when they make the most money. I usually don't even have time to fill out the orders. Some time ago, the store was out of stock of scratch cards, and sales only reached 100,000 a month. Now one day's performance is equivalent to the past month's. But now is not the best time for business. Sales will reach their peak during the knockout rounds and the finals." said the sports lottery shop owner.
In recent years, lottery shops have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and young people have flocked to this market. Sometimes you can see two or three lottery shops on one street, but there is a big gap in sales between new and old shops.
Lao Zhang has been working in the lottery industry for more than ten years. He told reporters: "According to the current trend, my store can achieve sales of 3 million this month, which is twice the usual performance. There are more than 200,000 sports lottery stores in the country. Affected by the European Cup, it is estimated that several thousand of these 200,000 stores will have monthly sales of more than 5 million, and some stores may even have sales of more than 10 million this month."
Behind the grand occasion of lottery shop:
Businesses are open all year round, WeChat friends are overwhelmed, and only a few make big money
Zhang's sports lottery shop has been open for ten years. Compared with those young people who open new shops, he can be said to be a veteran in the industry. The fact that this lottery shop can operate till now and maintain good performance is inseparable from Zhang's meticulous management.
When asked how to run a lottery shop well, Lao Zhang gave an example: "For example, in the first match of the European Cup, someone in the store bought 300,000 bets on Germany to win. Such big customers are old friends of my store. The young people you see who come to place orders offline are all novices. Generally, old players will add me on WeChat. They send me plans online, and I place orders for them. If they win, I will pay them. If they don't win, the orders will be invalid."
"During the World Cup and European Cup, because I added too many customers, my WeChat was sometimes banned. I couldn't reply to customers when they sent me proposals. Not only that, because online transfers were too frequent, my bank card was also limited. I couldn't do business during the days when there were the most people. I was so anxious that I went to the bank several times with various documents to get it unblocked. Now I have so many customers that I have added 4 WeChat accounts, and the bank card I use for receiving payments can have a transfer limit of several million a day." said Lao Zhang.
The reporter learned that the profit of a lottery shop is about 7-8% of sales. If the monthly sales are 100,000, the profit is 7,000-8,000 yuan. If the monthly sales are 3 million, the profit can be as high as 210,000. The higher the sales, the higher the profit.
Why is there such a huge gap in sales between different lottery shops?
In fact, there are many factors that affect the business of lottery shops. Some are more than ten years old, some are only one or two years old, some are located in crowded business districts, and some are located in remote towns. In addition to the flow of people, the type of lottery tickets sold in the store also determines the store's performance. Generally speaking, larger stores sell everything from Lotto, sports lottery, and scratch cards. However, it is more difficult to apply for qualifications for sports lottery, and not all stores are qualified to sell sports lottery. Lotto needs to be maintained by old customers, and these two businesses require good social operation capabilities to do well. If a lottery shop relies solely on scratch cards to support its performance, it will inevitably not be able to operate for a long time.
During the European Cup, many colleagues and customers envied Lao Zhang's sales. But Lao Zhang said: "They only saw a number, not the efforts behind the past ten years. Opening a lottery shop means saying goodbye to vacation. Lottery shops mainly make money on weekends and holidays. Others take a break during holidays, so merchants have to continue working. In addition, they cannot go to bed early. It is common to still be filling orders for others at 11 o'clock in the evening, so this money is not easy to earn."
