This article is part of 'Belgian Week' on Cyclingnews, a special run of features to celebrate the start of the Classics. For all our Belgian Week content click here.
Sunday morning in Kuurne. It's bitingly cold but the skies are clear and a breath of fresh air cleanses the lungs. The small town in West Flanders is still shaking off its slumber but the cafés are starting to fill up and a hum of anticipation is steadily growing. It's race day. Nico Verlinde and Walter Desamber unpack the car and carry their equipment to the corner of the road by the start line. Desamber sets down a wooden stool and takes out an A4 pad while Verlinde unfolds a square table, places a tatty metal box on top, and fixes a whiteboard in place.
Welcome to the bookies.
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The global gambling industry has evolved at an alarming rate in recent years thanks to the advent of the internet and, later, smartphones. Never has there been such an indulgent offering of markets to wager on, and never has it been easier for us to part with our cash – 'Tap tap boom', as Betfair insist on reminding us.
Seeing Verlinde and Desamber's set-up, then, is like stepping back in time.
There are no sophisticated algorithms calculating the odds – just brainpower. No digital beaming of the selections across your devices – just a whiteboard and a marker pen. No virtual transactions – just cash and paper slips that you can touch. Even the men, themselves – Desamber with his trilby hat and weathered features, quietly making a record of each bet, and Verlinde the charismatic front man shooting the breeze with the punters – are like throwbacks to the past.
All about the in-play
When the fun stops, stop
Pay out time
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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/flutter-in-flanders-taking-bets-at-the-classics
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