Chapter 11: The Fiery World Cup
In late May 1986, the Mexico World Cup was about to kick off.
As a professional web novel writer in his previous life, Wu Feng had a wide range of knowledge and information.
Sports, as a branch of web novels, coupled with his being a pseudo-fan during his student days, meant he had read many excellent football articles and had some impression of the Mexico World Cup.
For example, the ‘Hand of God’ had been on the lips of England fans for nearly forty years!
Maradona also used this World Cup championship to achieve his ‘King of Football’ title!
As a colony of British Empire, Hong Kong had a strong football atmosphere.
Of course, for Hong Kong citizens, the World Cup was an excellent betting target!
The nearby Macau casino had already opened odds for the World Cup, attracting gambling capital from all over East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Powerful triads in Hong Kong also joined the fun by opening their own external betting pools. The number of participating gamblers was astonishing, and the flow of gambling capital was not a small sum.
As the World Cup opening ceremony was about to begin, the entire Hong Kong seemed affected, becoming restless.
The customers Wu Feng interacted with most at nightclubs, Da Fu Hao Sauna, and massage parlors, besides talking about women, mostly discussed football and the World Cup.
He simply posted the World Cup match schedule and the timely odds from the Macau casino in prominent locations at these entertainment venues, allowing guests to comment and express their views.
No matter the era, what pseudo-fans loved to do most was to talk animatedly, as if they had already determined the World Cup champion.
Seeing such a lively scene, Wu Feng simply instructed the nightclubs under his management to set up special football commentary salons, allowing interested guests to speak their minds.
Unexpectedly, this made the nightclubs’ business better and better!
Not only beer sales, but also the takeout business from outside food stalls became much more popular.
Even police officers from Mong Kok Police Station were often seen coming here to drink and relax after getting off work.
He immediately realized that this satisfied some customers’ need to brag.
Thinking of the various businesses that emerged during the World Cup in later generations, he immediately had the idea of imitating them. Trying it wouldn't cost much Hong Kong dollars, it would just be more energy-consuming.
However, before he could act, Brother Niu from Shui Fong, whom he had met before, suddenly called.
There was nothing else; this fellow, in the name of the triad, had opened an underground betting market for the Mexico World Cup, which was the so-called external betting point.
He knew that the nightclubs managed by Wu Feng had been booming recently and had attracted a large number of football fans and pseudo-fans who would surely be willing to participate in World Cup betting, so Brother Niu hoped Wu Feng could set up a betting hotline in the nightclubs.
Wu Feng readily agreed. Anyway, Hung Yee had not opened an underground betting market for the World Cup, so there was no conflict of interest. He only clarified the commission split over the phone, stating that he would absolutely not personally participate in underground betting matters.
Of course, he did not print the betting phone number directly in a prominent position, but rather included it in small booklets of World Cup star player photos, which those in the know would understand.
It can only be said that global information was not well-developed in this era, which naturally brought many benefits to Wu Feng at the moment. The commercial development of European football was completely incomparable to later generations.
The ability of various countries' public opinion to create football stars was naturally also incomparable.
In other words, the number of top football stars famous in European leagues was much smaller than in later generations.
This naturally made it easier for Wu Feng to cut out upper-body photos of famous football stars participating in the World Cup from the sports columns of newspapers.
He compiled the photos together, then found a printing factory to specifically print color photos of the football stars and compile them into a booklet.
Such color photo booklets of football stars, sold for thirty Hong Kong dollars a copy in nightclubs with a strong football atmosphere, were quite popular, and even attracted the attention and imitation of Kwan Tsai Sum, the popular rising star of Wo On Lok.
“I say, Sen Ge, do you have to be so shameless, not even letting go of such a small business?”
In a private room at the Da Fu Hao Sauna, Wu Feng cursed at Kwan Tsai Sum beside him, annoyed, “Are you obsessed with money?”
“Damn it, the ‘small business’ you’re talking about is selling over three hundred football star color photo booklets in one night?”
Kwan Tsai Sum, wrapped in a bath towel, reclined languidly, retorted, “Making tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars a night, it’s not much worse than me!”
“What’s even more infuriating is that the ‘special edition’ you came up with actually dares to sell for a hundred dollars a copy. And those drunkards actually buy them happily, what kind of world is this?”
“As if I didn’t put in any brainpower and sweat?”
Wu Feng said irritably, “To figure out the specific physical condition of those football stars, as well as their positions and performance on the field, I bought a lot of related video tapes and newspapers, and almost threw up from watching them before I made these. If I don’t sell them for a bit more, I’ll be at a huge loss!”
That’s right, in addition to selling the most basic football star color photo booklets at the nightclubs, he also created a ‘special edition’ football star data collection, priced at one hundred Hong Kong dollars!
It was just an imitation of the player databases in later football games, a beggar-level version.
It only had simple content like height, weight, and preferred positions, but it was indeed very popular with football fans and pseudo-fans, selling one hundred and fifty copies a night was not a problem.
Combining the two types of football star booklets, he could earn over twenty-five thousand a day.
And this earning speed could be maintained for about half a month!
In fact, he also thought of posters, and exclusive jerseys and shoes of various football stars, at least he could earn several millions during the World Cup.
If he had a large enough platform and professional help, if he couldn't earn tens of millions from this World Cup, then he would have a problem himself.
Unfortunately, this was not the kind of money he, at this time, had the ability to earn.
Once the scale became large and attracted envy, powerful figures from major triads would step in to snatch the cake.
Kwan Tsai Sum beside him was the best example; he would jump at any benefit without any regard for face.
Wu Feng had also considered taking the opportunity to open a company and make it more legitimate.
However, after consulting a lawyer, he gave up on such thoughts and ideas.
To put it bluntly, what he was doing involved the portrait rights of many football stars, and even the interests of their clubs and sports companies behind them.
Essentially, it was still operating on the fringes of the law. Once the involved capital scale grew large, it could easily be slaughtered as a fat sheep, and finally be branded a criminal and sent to Stanley Prison for 'further studies'.
The current scale was just right; he could enjoy the profits, and the triad also got rich along with him.
His Brother’s venues didn’t play it as fancy, but they also imitated it, and their business was much better.
To avoid trouble, those football star color booklets were not sold at his Brother’s venues.
Even the Blue Lanterns under him could live a comfortable life for a few days with money to earn and money to spend!
The task of delivering takeout to guests was monopolized by the Blue Lanterns under him, and the running fees were not small.
Even if someone tried to cause trouble, it could be pushed off as a private individual act. There were many younger Brothers willing to take the blame for this and go to jail for free, as it was not a big deal anyway, at most one or two years.
Seeing Kwan Tsai Sum looking smug and as if he had gotten a great bargain, Wu Feng’s heart stirred, and he directly said, “Sen Ge, how about we cooperate during the World Cup?”
“How will we cooperate?”
Kwan Tsai Sum asked curiously, “Do you want to open an external betting pool with me?”