Enriching pawnshop owners, selling property and stealing are what a number of football bettors have done during the ongoing Euro tournament.

An 800m stretch of Bach Dang Street in Tan Binh District is home to nearly ten pawnshops. Nearby Nguyen Thai Son Street is also full of similar shops. According to several pawnshop owners, the number of motorcycles pawned at their shops has suddenly swollen.

“I have had to hire more spaces in the nearby alley to keep pawned motorcycles,” said a pawnbroker named C on Nguyen Thai Son Street.

Along other streets like Hoang Hoa Tham and Cach Mang Thang Tam in the same district, Bac Hai Street in District 10, Xo Viet Nghe Tinh, D1 and Ung Van Khiem in Binh Thanh District pawn shops have stayed open all night to serve Euro fans.

On the night of June 18, a pawnshop on Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street was crowded with customers. A man named H pawned a Honda SH scooter for VND30 million (US$1,400) – around a third of the value of the motorbike.

“I had lost another VND12 million to have a bet on Russia,” he sighed.

Two students then came with a laptop and received VND2 million. Five minutes later, two more people pawned a Wave motorcycle for VND8 million.

Pawnbroker H.L in Ung Van Khiem Street said, “Our shop has filled up with 40 motorcycles of different brands, as well as laptops and cell phones, since the beginning of Euro.”

The high increase in the number of customers has led several shops to hike their interest from the normal rate of 3-6 percent up to 10-12 percent.

Several people have taken advantage of Euro to open seasonal pawnshops. About 20 unlicensed shops have sprouted up in the university village in Thu Duc District to serve student bettors, who usually pawn their laptops and motorbikes after losing bets.

Ly My Minh (R) and other bettors are kept at a police station in Ho Chi Minh City on June 14 (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Selling property, stealing

After losing bets a man named T, whose house is on District 10’s Su Van Hanh Street, raised the bets from a few to tens of millions of dong per football match in the hope of clearing his debts.

However, the more money he staked, the more losses he suffered. His total debt is now up to VND150 million.

Over the last few days, T’s creditor ordered his inferiors to threaten him and demand that T pay up within one month. As a result, he has been forced to ask his wife and children to sell their 25 square meter house.

Chien, a worker in District 9, was only able to buy a 56 square meter property after 10 years of saving. Three months ago, he began to take part in football betting, placing VND3-10 million on a match.

He continued to bet on Euro matches, resulting in a debt of nearly VND85 million, while his salary is only VND5 million a month.

The debt collectors met him many times but he did not have the money. While Chien was coming home after work on June 15, four men barred his way, put a knife on his neck, and warned that he must pay up both the debt and interest in order to stay alive. Chien was terrified and thus put his land up for sale.

Xuan, from the An Khanh area in District 2, relates that her son had forced open a safe to take their family’s merge savings of VND5 million to place a bet on the Netherlands-Greece match on June 9.

On the following day, he sold a Wave RSX motorbike worth over VND20 million, which Xuan and her husband had saved up for years to buy.

A group of cruel men then came to Xuan’s house and threatened to kill her son if he runs away without paying them their money.

39 year-old Nguyen Huu Tuan, from Binh Hung Hoa Ward of Binh Tan District, was caught red handed stealing accessories from an Innova brand car, which was parked on Bau Cat Street of Tan Binh District, on June 15.

Tuan said that he was stealing so that he could have money for football betting and spending.