Samanth Subramanian

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Samanth Subramanian

The trap was laid in a rented office: two rooms in downtown Copenhagen, furnished without a whisper of Scandi style. If it wasn’t for a Frida Kahlo print on one wall, the premises might have felt as impersonal and stark as a confessional. That, in any event, was what it became. For six months, beginning in mid-2022, a parade of people – members of motorcycle gangs, entrepreneurs, lawyers, real-estate barons, politicians – trooped through to recount their sins to Amira Smajic.

Jan 15, 2025 | samanth.substack.com | Samanth Subramanian

This piece appeared last October in a Bloomberg Businessweek special package on sports gambling—an industry that is rapidly being legalized in US state after US state. In the old world, though, sports betting has been incredibly sophisticated for years, spinning off a whole new sector filled with quant shops. This is is a story about those shops. Along with the pub and the kebabery, one fixture of nearly every British high street is the betting shop.

Jan 13, 2025 | afr.com | Samanth Subramanian |Emily Wright

Samanth Subramanian and Emily WrightJan 14, 2025 – 5.00am or Subscribe to save articleEmailLinkedInTwitterFacebookSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? On an indoor soccer field in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, a championship-winning team is running its drills. Each player stakes out a position, makes precise adjustments and fires the orange ball at one another.

Dec 30, 2024 | washingtonpost.com | Samanth Subramanian |Emily Wright

Warning: This graphic requires JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript for the best experience. Photos and videos by Jagoda Lasota for The Washington Post December 31, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. EINDHOVEN, Netherlands - On an indoor soccer field here, a championship-winning team is running its drills. Each player stakes out a position, makes precise adjustments and fires the orange ball at another. On the sidelines, manager René van de Molengraft paces and observes.

Dec 23, 2024 | samanth.substack.com | Samanth Subramanian

With barely a week to go for the new year, a stocktaking is inevitable. I still have an article in at the Washington Post, that I believe will be published before 2024 is out. But that aside, I’ve completed ten pieces and a slim book this year. (The book, to be candid, was begun earlier.) Ten is a nice, round number: one for each finger of the hand, unless you’re Django Reinhardt or Hrithik Roshan. Here’s a round-up of ten things I learned (plus a final bonus one, from the book) this year.