A few days have passed since the call with Yang Fan, and the operations of the betting house have largely stabilized. I've truly grasped the project's profit model.
Given that my group has no roots in Dongjiang, and the chess and card hall's location is too close to the main road, making it susceptible to police crackdowns.
Yang Jian decided to visit Yang Fan's senior disciple brother. Relatively speaking, Yang Fan's influence was more reliable than Fang Zhicheng's promise.
Even if Yang Fan's senior disciple brother couldn't offer any help, getting to know more locals would still be beneficial.
He found the number Yang Fan had sent him in his text messages and dialed Bai Zheng's number.
"Le hao a, le hai bing guo?"
As soon as the call connected, a sentence in the local Dongjiang dialect came from the other end.
Fortunately, Yang Jian had been in this area for a few months and could understand some simple local spoken language. He knew it meant hello and who are you.
"Manager Bai, hello, I am Yang Jian, Yang Fan's brother."
"Yang Jian? Oh, I remember. Yang Fan mentioned you to me a long time ago. He called a few days ago saying you and some of his disciples were in Dongjiang. Hello, hello, welcome to develop in Dongjiang. I've been waiting for your call."
"I apologize, Manager Bai. I should have come to see you much earlier, but I've been a bit busy these past few days, so I'm calling you today. When do you have time? We'd like to pay you a visit."
"Sure. Yang Fan told me you saved his life and that you are brothers who have shared life and death. So, on my turf, you are my brother. I'm older than you, so call me Brother Zheng. How about this, I'll send you my home address. You can come on Friday, because I just arrived in Port City yesterday and won't be back until Friday."
"Alright, Brother Zheng. See you on Friday. You go ahead and be busy."
After hanging up, Yang Jian felt that Bai Zheng was also a very straightforward person and should be easy to get along with. Now he had to consider what gift to buy for the visit. He couldn't go empty-handed for the first meeting.
Sunday was the day to claim prizes. Many people had won this time, and it was Sunday, so the factory workers were on holiday. The workers who came to claim prizes started arriving before eight o'clock.
For this reason, Afeng specially bought a banknote counting machine. This not only made prize claiming faster but also reassured customers, proving there were no counterfeit banknotes.
Following Yang Jian's suggestion, Fang Hai hired two brothers to help, paying them three hundred yuan a day.
So Afeng, Anan, and Junjun no longer had to be on duty. They mingled with the crowd or loitered at the entrance to prevent any disturbances.
"Haha, this betting house is good. We won eighty thousand and didn't run away, which shows some strength."
"Exactly. They had a big win just two days after opening, so the betting house must have lost money. They're still paying out on time today, which shows they have credibility."
Two local villagers came together. They were landlords from Liuqiao Village and were quite wealthy. Yesterday, they had each invested ten thousand yuan and bought ten numbers, and both had won the special number. They came to claim their prizes after breakfast.
Anan recognized them and came forward, offering them cigarettes. "Bosses, congratulations on winning! Please rest assured, even if you win a million, we guarantee payment and will never run away."
"That's good. As long as you are trustworthy, we can introduce more big clients. Our village is rich, and bets start from ten thousand yuan. We're just afraid you won't be able to handle too many big clients."
"We can definitely handle it. To run this betting house, we've prepared three million yuan. If that's not enough, we can transfer ten million yuan within twenty-four hours. We can absolutely meet your requirements."
Anan's boast reached the sky, and Yang Jian and Afeng almost burst out laughing.
It was clear that the real customers of this betting house were these wealthy locals. Their land had been uniformly developed into factories or commercial streets by the village and rented out, allowing everyone in the village to earn money passively, with even newborns receiving dividends.
Additionally, these villagers had converted their houses into pigeon cages to rent out, becoming landlords.
Some were in business or ran factories, with many millionaires and ten-millionaires. However, these villagers were very low-key, and it was impossible to tell who was rich from their clothing and appearance.
Perhaps a street sweeper might be a millionaire.
One shouldn't underestimate an old woman collecting discarded vegetables on the street; she might have assets in the hundreds of millions.
And most of the villagers here shared a common hobby: betting. If these villagers could be attracted, the betting house would truly enter a virtuous cycle.
The two villagers were very simple and actually believed Anan's words. They promised to bring people next time. After claiming their prizes, they even bought Anan a pack of cigarettes.
After the two villagers walked away, Afeng laughed. "Anan, aren't you afraid that if too many big clients come, they'll drain our capital? You know, if someone wins twenty thousand on a number, we'll go bankrupt."
"No, I've observed the people here who bet. When they bet, they don't just buy one number. Some buy three or five, and some buy over ten.
No one would spend twenty thousand yuan to buy just one number. They might spend a hundred thousand yuan to buy five numbers. Even if they win, they'll receive eight hundred thousand, and we'll only lose seven hundred thousand.
If a few more people like them come, we'll lose even less.
And they're unlikely to win every time. As long as they bet seven or eight times, we'll break even.
So, this project requires substantial capital and long-term operation. It will definitely make money, and a lot of money."
Anan's words seemed reasonable, but Afeng didn't quite agree. "I still think there's a lot of luck involved. Otherwise, there wouldn't be betting houses that can't pay out and run away. And it seems like there are quite a few of them."
Jun Jun, who had been silent, also nodded. "I saw news about this online yesterday. Mark Six has become rampant in many parts of the mainland. Because the mainland cannot receive Port City's television programs, and the information is not smooth, many betting houses tamper with the special numbers. This way, they are guaranteed to profit."
"That's fraud, and they'll be caught by the police and sentenced more heavily. But it also shows that running a betting house still carries risks. Otherwise, those people wouldn't tamper with the special numbers. If there are better projects, it's better to transition. We have money, so we can invest in more stable projects."
Afeng had clearly lost confidence in running the betting house.
Seeing that his brothers had reached a disagreement, Yang Jian also gave it serious thought. The family's businesses were developing rapidly.
The template factory was being managed by Jiang Bin and was already expanding its production capacity. After the new year, they would officially install equipment for multi-layer decorative boards.
The trading company, with the support of Lu Hao, should also be a sure bet.
Therefore, they couldn't take risks outside with businesses that could go bankrupt overnight.
"How about this, we'll meet with Bai Zheng in a few days and discuss it further. He's a local and has many connections, so he might be able to point us in the right direction.
Also, let's keep the betting house going for a few more days. We'll try to avoid attracting too many big clients and set a cap when accepting bets. A single number won't exceed five thousand yuan. This way, we'll have the capacity to pay."
Yang Jian made an immediate decision. Running the betting house was an exploratory process. Since everyone felt the risk was too high, they should cut their losses or adjust their direction in time.