When boredom led me to blog at a Sports bet shop, see what I discovered

8 am that Friday morning, there was no hope of electricity which has eluded that part of Surulere for the past two weeks, even to get fuel for the generator is like hell. I needed to blog; the fire to write something new was on, and I was desperate and distraught. Kenny, my flat mate sensed my uneasiness and quickly noted that my unrest was as a result of the terrible situation hindering me from blogging. He quickly quipped,

“Deedee, make we go ‘ShowLove’. Abeg. His generator is always on from dusk till dawn”.

Confused, I asked “Bros, Abeg who be Showlove? Being an 8 am – 11pm tax consultant. I barely know anything about where I live.

‘Shebi you wan blog bah?’ He replied. I nodded in affirmation.

‘Oga follow me, let’s go there.’

Like a sheep being led to slaughter, I sauntered behind him down the road to Irone Avenue, less than 300 metres away from my house was the popular sports betting cum viewing centre. I was shocked at the large number of young and old men, even ladies sef, littered around the centre shouting, arguing, almost fighting. The agents were also not left out of the ramblings.

Arguments dominated! The trending topic was the Liverpool win over Borussia Dortmund and someone carting away #500,000 as a result of his bet that was spot on predicting the win and also the score line.

As expected, my inquisitive mind was on that it almost choked. I wanted to know more, the joy of winning large amount of money, the tears of despair from continuous loss for some of the big stakers filled the air, emotions were rile. It was a fascinating and stimulating view to behold.

I was surprised at first to see such a large number of able bodied men that early, staking bet. I asked questions around and I got myself acquainted with the nature and types of bet. Emeka who won #75,000 based on his recent bet informed me that he has been playing sports bet since 2015 after his OND at Lagos State Polytechnic and based on the ‘no money no work’ syndrome, he started playing sports bet and he has never won until now.

Displaying his happiness at the win, he jokingly added that ‘if Showlove to open his bets shop round the clock, I go sleep and wake here, I like to predict and I don’t intend quitting anytime soon’ One word for Emeka; Addiction!

In my interview with Kemi, one of the agents of the Bet Shop, she spared no blushes to explain the various types of bets. Graciously she retorted, ‘Oga deedee, make I start from the popular dog race popularly known ‘aja n sare’, where you predict the dog that wins the race, to horse race; also like the dog race but horses are involved this time around to the Virtual Soccer game; a PS3 like virtual game where stakers predict who win and loses, to the big one itself, predicting live scores. Before I could probe further, she got busy again. Boys, men, ladies, women were restless; Kemi should come and book their bet. Such was the passion and fire! LOL

Lest I forget, Deedee also betted o! LMAO, with #1,000. My ticket dey here for my pocket. I just hope I win my #150k. Biko pray for me!.LOL!

In my next article, I am going to write about 5 types of people you meet in a Sports Bets shop. Biko, watch this space.
Anyway, that sums up the written part of this story. I have decided to capture the emotions, arguments, life of betters of the Popular ‘ShowLove’ Bets Shop.

See pictures after the cut:

I know some of you would have placed bets just like me too, come and share your experience here..