Meet the man who made $1280 betting Luis Suarez would bite someone

Yesterday we shared a story about a group of people who won a 175-to-1 bet that Luis Suarez would bite someone during the World Cup.

Marcos Martinez, a resident of Copenhagen, Denmark, says he was one of the lucky people who put some money down on Suarez biting someone. In an email exchange with For the Win, he answered some questions about his big payout.

How much did you bet?

I bet 40 Danish kronor, the equivalent of USD $7.30 (and won USD $1280).

What drew you to make the bet?

I usually bet small amounts of money on weird things from time to time (for instance, when the last Pope was elected I won money on guessing which continent he would be from). So it’s not alien to me.

This time around I was actually planning on placing some bets on “real” games, and I was overwhelmed by the huge amount of different options (1200+ different games) so I went directly for the “Fun” category, where this was one among them (other categories include “Beach ball on the pitch” or “Female fan going topless”).

And since my dad is from Uruguay (I’m Swedish though), I thought it’d be fun to put some money on Suarez. So that’s the story.

Has the casino paid out yet?

Yes. They have made the payment to my online “casino account”, which means I can do a pay out to my regular account at any time (or bet on other crazy stuff). I haven’t yet transferred the money to my bank account since I’m hoping to win more in some other bets (and making a single payment is easier).

How do you feel about the Suarez bite? Should he be banned for the rest of the tournament?

I’m torn on this. On the one side, I believe it’s unacceptable, but on the other side, I also want Uruguay to win their next games (which would be more difficult without Suarez). So a lengthy FIFA investigation that is finalized after World Cup leading to him missing a few matches would be a nice compromise.

How about your dad? Does he think there should be a ban?

I had to call him to find out. And he does have a point in what he says, namely that a bite mark on your back will probably not impede you from playing football. There are way worse things a player can do; going for knees, head, legs, eyes, etc.

So he says it’s a bit over-dramatized, since it’s such an unusual and difficult-to-understand behavior. He also believes that the Italians have a history of dramatizing similar events (like Zidane’s headbutt in 2006). Still, my dad is of the opinion that Suarez should be missing next game as a punishment.