Gambling costs fans their lives

Wang Xiaoying/China Daily

Debts racked up on World Cup games can turn deadly

For millions of viewers in China and across the globe, the World Cup is a monthlong extravaganza of soccer and a chance to share the triumphs and losses with family and friends. For a limited number, though, it is a descent into the despair of unpayable debts racked up by gambling.

In one case, on June 27, a woman committed suicide at a hotel in Haikou, Hainan province, after losing more than 100,000 yuan ($16,000) gambling on the World Cup.

People.com.cn said the woman, surnamed Wang, 32, had previously placed bets on the outcome of matches and had lost tens of thousands of yuan before her husband settled most of her debts. In an effort to recoup the losses, she borrowed more than 100,000 yuan to bet on other matches but lost this money also.

Wang locked herself in a hotel restroom and lit charcoal before succumbing to the fumes. The police found a suicide note in which she expressed her remorse for the grief she knew her family would feel.

Wang was not alone in her despair. Several other suicides have been reported nationwide, and across the globe.

On June 10, a college student leaped to his death in Panyu, Guangdong province, after losing more than $3,000. The plight of those driven to suicide means that a harsh spotlight is being shone on gambling, both legal and illegal, especially sites set up overseas that may appear legitimate but are, in actual fact, scams.

According to the National Sports Lottery Center, the industry regulator, more than 150 million yuan in bets were placed on June 12 in the country, the tournament's opening day, three times the amount for the previous World Cup.

Statistics from the Beijing-based Caitong Consultancy, a lottery research institute, showed that bets hit 2.24 billion yuan within the first week of the World Cup, which roughly equals the total of 2.3 billion yuan during the whole 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

By midday on June 21, accumulated bets had soared to 4 billion yuan. Insiders predicted that bets placed during the World Cup would exceed 10 billion yuan.