Chapter 646 Is the sky going to fall?

As the Community Shield came to an end, Southampton defeated Manchester United 2-0 at Wembley Stadium with goals from Brahimovic and James Rodriguez, successfully winning the first championship trophy of the new season.

This immediately made Southampton famous, and their chances of winning the championship became even louder.

As the new season approaches, according to traditional practice, the three major European bookmakers have also released the odds for the Premier League teams to win the championship. What surprised everyone is that the team with the highest chance of winning the championship is Southampton!

The defending champions are tied for first place with Manchester City at 3.25, ranking at the forefront of the favorites to win the championship.

Following Southampton and Manchester City are Manchester United, followed by Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

Even though Tottenham Hotspur spent 200 million pounds this summer, in fact, the outside world does not have a high opinion of this team. Its performance in several warm-up matches in Asia was quite average. Villas-Boas has never been able to integrate the team into an organic whole and inspire the team's strongest fighting power.

This is also the reason why the outside world is not optimistic about Tottenham Hotspur!

At least, in the eyes of commentators, Tottenham Hotspur's ideal position should be the top four in the league.

On the contrary, Southampton, which won the Premier League title as a newly promoted team last season, has become the favorite to win the Premier League title along with Manchester City this season with the mobilization of Manchester United and the adjustments of Chelsea.

There are even quite a lot of fans who are optimistic about Southampton successfully defending their title.

As soon as the odds were announced, the bookmakers immediately became busy.

They make a living by analyzing data, so after the odds are set, they have to pay close attention to lottery players' bets and movements at all times and keep abreast of all market developments.

"We have communicated with Ladbrokes and Sun City before. Because they lost a big order last season, our three companies have adopted a more cautious, even conservative strategy for the new season, and the odds are quite close."

In a conference room at William Hill headquarters, CEO Ralph Topping outlines the company's latest developments.

Group Chairman Gareth Davis sat at the top, flipping through the report documents submitted by the staff, reading from the first page to the last, then gently closed them and looked at Ralph Topping.

"Ralph, we lost such a big stake in the first half of the year. What do you think about the second half?"

Many core senior executives present also showed concerns.

The big order they were talking about was actually the betting slips that Yang Huan placed last year.

Southampton staged a miracle of winning the championship as a newly promoted team, winning the FA Cup and the Europa League. Atletico Madrid also won the championship, and Monaco was promoted to the French Ligue 1. These betting slips made bookmakers such as William Hill lose a lot of money.

Especially William Hill, they also took the risk transfer bets from the other two bookmakers and ended up losing a lot of money.

"Yes, Gareth, we have drawn up a detailed plan to make up for the huge losses in the first half of the year. Please take a look!"

As he spoke, Ralph Toppin asked everyone to open the documents. Several pages of the documents focused on the plans he would implement in the second half of the year, as well as the forecasts and evaluations of this series of plans.

After hearing this, Gareth Davis and others couldn't help but nod their heads repeatedly.

But just as they were discussing how William Hill could generate more profits and revenue in the second half of the year to make up for the losses in the first half of the year, there was an urgent knock on the conference room door.

"Who is it? Come in!" Gareth Davis was a little dissatisfied.

Don’t you see so many managers in a meeting?

Knocking at the door at this time? And making such a big noise? What does that mean?

The door of the conference room was pushed open, and a manager from the betting department was found. He was sweating profusely and it seemed that the matter was urgent.

"What is it?" Ralph Topping asked quickly.

"Something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened!" the man shouted anxiously as he entered the door.

"What's going on?" Gareth Davis asked in dissatisfaction.

What's the point of being so flustered?

Fortunately, all the people present were from the company. If there were outsiders, people who didn't know would think William Hill was going to close down. Was it necessary to make such a fuss?

Is it possible that the sky is going to fall?

When the man saw that Gareth Davis and Ralph Toppin both looked unhappy, he quickly shut up, took a few deep breaths, calmed down, and immediately said, "Just now, the betting station at Southampton St. Mary's Stadium called me and said..."

"What?" Ralph Topping's eyelids twitched, and he had a bad feeling.

Southampton St. Mary's Stadium, isn't that Yang Huan's territory? Could it be...

"He said that when Yang Huan goes to St. Mary's Stadium today, he will go to their betting station to place a bet!"

"What?" Gareth Davis jumped up.

"He wants to bet again?"

Ralph Toppin was also shocked. "We didn't underestimate Southampton this year, did we? The odds are ranked first in the Premier League! He still wants to bet out of spite?"

Let me ask you, throughout history, even in the world of football, is there any team that has become the number one favorite to win the championship in the second season after being promoted?

Even if there is, it is probably very rare, right?

At least in the top European leagues, Southampton's treatment is unique!

We have done all this, and you, Master Huan, still want to be angry with us? Still want to do that?

The manager of the betting department smiled bitterly, "The people at the site said that Yang Huan said that he was happy this time and had some spare change, so he wanted to bet one million pounds, just for fun, as a good start!"

Everyone present was dumbfounded!

Damn it, you are too rich, aren't you?

A million pounds is nothing to you? Are you just playing around and trying to get a good start?

Last season, in order to compensate you for the big order, we almost had to sell ourselves to pick up soap. Are you still betting now?

If we lose again, won’t we have to pay with our lives?

For a moment, there was a lot of discussion at the scene about whether to accept Yang Huan’s bet.

"Actually, it doesn't seem that scary!"

"Yes, now Southampton is 3 to 1. If they invest 1 million pounds, the worst we can do is to pay them more than 3 million. But I don't believe that Southampton can win the championship again this season when Manchester City is so strong!"

"That's not the way to say it. I'm just afraid that Yang Huan might get addicted to betting. If there's another big upset, then..."

"Well, what you said does make sense, but if we don't accept it and it gets out, then our company's image will be ruined!"

"Well, it's not right to agree, and it's not right to refuse. What should I do?"

After everyone discussed it, they all felt that this matter was very tricky.

"Ralph, what do you think?" Gareth Davis looked at Ralph Toppin and asked.

The latter also had a sad look on his face, and was obviously in a dilemma.

"I heard that Southampton's data analysis center can deduce the results of the game and even predict the score with a very high accuracy rate!"

Ralph Toppin's nonsensical words surprised everyone present.

What does it mean?

We were talking about betting, how did it get to Southampton’s analysis centre?

Wait, you predicted the results of the competition? The accuracy rate was quite high?

Gareth Davis was the first to react and looked at Ralph Toppin, "You mean, Yang Huan's bets were not made randomly, but were based on precise calculations and predictions?"

Ralph Topping nodded. "That's entirely possible."

When everyone heard what he said, they all suddenly understood.

"No wonder, he has placed many bets with us before, and he won more than he lost!"

"Yeah, just like last season, we lost a million in the League Cup, but we won over 100 million in the Premier League alone. We also made quite a lot from the FA Cup and the Europa League!"

"Previously, the media reported that Yang Huan's wife also bet on Southampton during every major competition, and every time she bet, Southampton would win. The media regarded her as Southampton's lucky star. Now it seems that this is also deliberate hype!"

"Oh my god, if that's true, then Southampton's data analysis capabilities are too terrifying, right?

"Who says it's not true? None of the three major European lottery companies can do this!"

"It's different. We are proficient in calculations and analysis in the field of gambling, but they are proficient in the professional field of football."

Everyone was talking at once, as if as long as Yang Huan placed a bet, he would definitely win.

If Yang Huan was present at this time, he would probably laugh out loud three times.

Is it true that I am just betting for fun, and do I need to use the data analysis center?

Isn't that like setting up a cannon to kill a fly?

If this is really done, I'm afraid that the big names in the data analysis center will leave in anger sooner or later, because this is simply an insult to their research results, right?

But everyone in the conference room obviously believed his inference.

"Ralph, what do you think?" Gareth Davis asked again.

Ralph Topping thought for a moment and said, "I think the best outcome of this matter is that Yang Huan voluntarily gives up the bet."

After hearing this, everyone nodded frequently, thinking it made sense.

Since Yang Huan gave up voluntarily, William Hill's face was saved.

It’s not that we are unwilling or afraid to accept your bet, but that you don’t want to place the bet yourself, which is none of our business!

"But how could he voluntarily give up the bet?" Gareth Davies asked again.

Ralph Topping thought for a moment and said, "I think we should take the initiative to go to Southampton."

Everyone was suspicious. Why?

"I am very interested in seeing Southampton's data analysis center. I think it will be a great help for us if we can cooperate with Southampton in this area!"

This is beyond doubt.

They are in the gambling business. If they can really predict the approximate game results and scores in advance, wouldn’t that give them an advantage?

“But why should Southampton work with us?”

"Yes, as far as I know, there are only two companies that can cooperate with Southampton in this regard, Nike and Adidas. Others, including Atletico Madrid, Monaco and Tottenham Hotspur, are just sharing data."

Ralph Topping also laughed when he heard this, "We don't need to underestimate ourselves!"

Everyone looked at him with a strange look, feeling a little strange.

"To be frank, we have been in the gambling industry for so many years. As the world's largest gambling company, the data we have at our disposal is quite astonishing. A lot of the data is very in-depth and cannot be obtained by the outside world. It is confidential data."

When everyone heard this, they immediately understood what Ralph Topping meant.

Indeed, after so many years of accumulation, William Hill has mastered a set of core databases.

The usual odds, scores, etc. are calculated based on the data in the database and combined with the bets placed by lottery players.

However, their data and the data held by Southampton belong to different fields, and they can be said to have their own strengths.

If the two sides cooperate, then...

"I heard that Yang Huan attaches great importance to data analysis and application, so he invested heavily in the research and analysis center. So, I believe he will definitely be interested in cooperating with us!"

Ralph Toppin's words were immediately recognized by everyone present.

Since we are going to cooperate, what is the point of making a bet?

Gareth Davis nodded vigorously. "Okay, let's do it, Ralph. I'll leave this matter to you!"

Ralph Topping nodded calmly on the surface, but in fact, he was secretly sweating.

Fortunately, I escaped another disaster!