Thursday, December 04, 2008 Bets for round, not Pacquiao or De La Hoya By Jovi T. De Leon
CITY OF SAN FENANDO -- Enterprising bettors and small town lottery collectors here have devised an ingenious way for local boxing aficionados in the city to make bets for Saturday's (Sunday in the Philippines) "Dream Match" between Manny Pacquiao and boxing icon Oscar De La Hoya.
This morning, Sun.Star chanced upon an STL collector stationed in the city's west district busy accepting "small bets" for the non-title bout. On the side of his small betting table hung a sign "Pacman vs Oca: P50 per round."
The "intriguing sign," said the collector who requested anonymity, has drawn much attention for people with a fancy for the numbers game.
"The truth is, this is all for fun as conceived by friends but it apparently spread to other boxing fans wishing to bet and put some thrill on Sunday's match. But for an STL collector like me, it is also some sort of a sideline and an opportunity to earn a little more cash," he said.
But he added that bettors on the match wouldn't want to compromise their "patriotism" and being "Filipino" in making their bets, as all of them still pray for a Pacquiao victory.
"So what we did was to ask willing people to bet on the round the bout would end, regardless if it's a knockout or decision or whether it is Manny or De la Hoya who wins. Still, we would not want to bet on our being Filipinos like Pacquiao. We hope this is not prohibited as this not big time gambling but small time betting only," he said.
He explained that a card containing the 12 round wins a net prize of P500, with a commission of P100 for pooling the bets already deducted. A bettor, he said, is allowed to bet on at least two rounds of his choice but the group on a particular bet card should not exceed 12 persons.
According to the collector, betting will close on Friday at 5 p.m. to avert any forward information that may be relayed by persons who would get to see the fight on Saturday.
He, however, expects that they will get to know what round the fight would end on the evening of that day and thus would be able to give winning bets on Sunday or even earlier, much like what he said had happened during Pacquiao's last fight with David Diaz.
Asked what round seems to be the favorite, he said drivers, laborers, and common boxing fans here are betting on rounds 9 to 12, with little bets on rounds 1 to 6.
