The Premier League is huge in Asia but there is often a high price to pay for betting on its matches
There is a scene in an early episode of The Simpsons that says quite a lot about sports fans in general, and fans who gamble on sport in particular. Krusty the Clown and his accountant are watching a basketball game on TV. “Let me get this straight,” the accountant says. “You took all the money you made franchising your name and bet it against the Harlem Globetrotters?” To which Krusty wails: “But I thought the Generals were due.”
The Globetrotters crossed the line between a spectator sport and scripted entertainment. Outside Springfield – where it was the local Mafia don who laid the bet – no bookie will offer odds on a match where the result has already been decided. Some degree of uncertainty is an essential ingredient in a betting market, whether it involves a football match, a horse race or any of the other three dozen or so sports that are listed by most major bookmakers.
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