Alexandre was embarrassed, expecting such a categorical refusal, but understanding that he had nothing to lose he said, "Can you at least tell me why the AI considers this match problematic?"
The man hesitated for a moment and replied, "I only have limited information, but I think that either AI suspects a rigged match, probably due to too many bets on one of the participants,It's often the case.".
Alexandre thought about it, then smiled and said "I'd like to place a bet on William Walton".
The astonished bookmarker replied, "Are you sure, young man?"
Alexandre "What are the odds?"
The bookmarker replied "One second, I'm trying to deblock the operations" after more than a minute of waiting, the bookmarker looked again at Alexandre and said "Voula ça est debloquez! "Then he added, "Wow! I can see why AI suspected fraud! Over $80,000 was bet on Chetan Ambani! "
Alexandre was astonished, then said "$80,000? What kind of odds do you get with that kind of money? Is it something like 1,0001?"
The bookmarker laughed and said, "If only it were that easy! Unfortunately, the academy imposes minimum odds of 1.1, i.e. a minimum winnings of 10% in the event of victory. If the bets are too disadvantageous for the bookmarker, then the bets are frozen, but the minimum odds are 1.1 no matter what."
At first, Alexandre was impressed, but then he realized that this was actually a perfectly logical thing to do. Fraud and abuse were extremely common in sports circles, especially when it came to money, and the academy was no exception to the rule - on the contrary, in such an environment, fraudsters were legion, and if the arena had no means of controlling them, it would easily fail,but the academy also seems keen to keep the business profitable by imposing a minimum rating of 1.1, which makes it much harder for bookmarkers to take on the financial risk.
Alexandre repeated his first question and said, "So what are the odds on William Walton?"
The Bookmarker was hesitant in his answer, but having a well-developed sense of observation, he said, "I can offer you odds of 2 on Willaim Walton!
Alexander, knowing he could get much more, laughed and said arrogantly, "Tell me! 10% of $80,000 is a lot, isn't it? Imagine for a second that I decide not to bet and I leave you to your problems?"
The bookmarker was embarrassed, he knew he absolutely needed someone to balance the bet, so he said "OK! Ok! 2.5 odds! But I can't do any better!"
Alexandre thought it over and said, "I want odds of 3! Or you'll have to explain to the arena owners how you lost $8,000 in a single bet!"
The bookmarker thought for a long time, he knew he was blocked, he couldn't just refuse to pay Chetan's very probable winnings, so he replied: "Ah my God! You really are ruthless! Okay, go for odds of 3! But please, bet at least $1,000!"
Alexandre replied "Ok deal!"
the bookmarker tapped on his keyboard and said "Sayez, I've deblocked the bets on this match, so you can bet on the bollards next to it."
Alexandre replied "Thank you! Then he went to the betting kiosks.
the bookmarker murmured, "Bastard!"