The more desperate for money someone is, the easier it is for them to sign seemingly life-saving but actually life-threatening agreements, and these agreements are called betting agreements.

They are clearly unequal agreements, yet there are always people waiting to sign or rushing to sign them, hiding behind this is a cruel truth: a noose always breaks at its thinnest point, and the fatal mistakes people make during their lows are essentially the same as betting.
How many traps are there in betting agreements? We can see the full picture from Wang Jianlin’s three betting experiences.
First betting: delisting financing, sowing the seeds of disaster
In September 2016, Wang Jianlin decided to delist Wanda Commercial from Hong Kong. The reason was simple: at that time, mainland real estate companies like Evergrande and Country Garden were booming in Hong Kong stocks, but Wanda Commercial’s stock price was sluggish, and its valuation was seriously undervalued. He felt frustrated and wanted to delist and revalue in A-shares.
But delisting was not just talk; repurchasing shares required hundreds of billions in cash, and Wang Jianlin didn’t have that much money in his account, so he had to seek help from investors.
He approached nine financial groups and signed a simple, straightforward agreement: if they provided 30 billion yuan, he promised to list in A-shares before 2018; if he couldn’t, he would buy back the shares himself.
After signing, Wang Jianlin relaxed, thinking the money was in place and that the listing was secured within two years. But he didn’t realize that the most terrifying part of betting isn’t losing, but being unable to afford losing.
After delisting, Wanda aggressively made overseas acquisitions, buying Legendary Pictures, European cinemas, and American real estate. As a result, in 2017, regulatory tightening occurred, and banks stopped lending to Wanda. Wanda’s stocks and bonds both plummeted, and the capital chain instantly tightened.
Wang Jianlin panicked. In July of that year, he reluctantly sold 13 cultural tourism projects and 77 hotels to Sunac, a package deal.