Man's last bet pays off with sports restaurant

Restaurants kick off discount promotions for various reasons: the anniversary of an opening, the coming of festivals or Valentine's Day.

But for Ren Jie, the latest promotion at his restaurant hinges on something quite unique: celebrating the recent national crackdown on football gambling.

The name of his restaurant? It's aptly named Ku Qiu, meaning "crying for football."

From now until January, all customers can enjoy a 50-percent discount on most dishes. The number 50 appears prominently on an advertisement posted outside the eatery, which specializes in baked fish.

Located in Meteor Garden in Huilongguan, northern Beijing, Ku Qiu looks like any other eatery from the outside. But its interior takes on a sports bar motif: footballs hang on the ceiling, there are also large photos on the wall that Ren shot of famous CCTV sports hosts.

Names of dishes continue the sports theme: Black whistle, Goalkeeper, Beckham-style duck head. You can also order baked fishes that are named after world famous football teams. The Manchester United Baked Fish comes highly recommended by Ren. New customers usually ask Ren if he is crazy about football. His usual answer is: "Well, yes and no."

The 38-year-old man has never played football nor gone to the stadium to see a football match, Ren is obviously not your typical fan. But he was a very "typical" football gambler.

Talking with him it's hard to imagine that he was so addicted to gambling that he lost all of his property holdings. It is equally difficult to imagine that his wealth gained as an exhibition company manager was so vast that he once owned two apartments, a car and nearly two million yuan in the early 2000s.

"Gambling changed the route of my life," Ren said. He gambled for the first time during the 2002 World Cup after employees at the exhibition company introduced it to him. He claims it was just fun in the beginning. He bet and seldom won. But he kept on betting and mostly lost. He lost his two apartments and car and climbed into debt within just two years.

The darkest days once drove him to the brink of suicide, Ren admitted. It was the unwavering love from his wife and two chidren that finally saved him and encouraged him to start all over again.

In 2007, Ren opened Ku Qiu with the money he borrowed from relatives. Besides the football-related images and names of dishes he came up with, there is also a board on the wall with his poem of confession and a giant picture of a girl shedding tears while holding a football, a reminder to customers to stay away from gambling.

Ren has also set up an anti-gambling association with his friends to help football gamblers with their addiction. Some have even come from other provinces to see him and ask for help. But not everyone can understand Ren's second business.

"A few in our neighborhood say the name of my restaurant makes them unhappy," Ren said. "Some say the business will sooner or later close down. But the business is still fine." isn't it?"

"Life is all about ups and downs. I just have a deeper understanding about it than anyone else," he said.