A UNIVERSITY student in Guangzhou leaped to his death after losing nearly 20,000 yuan (US$3,200) gambling on the World Cup, Chinese-language newspapers reported yesterday.

    The second-year student, identified only by his surname Lin, jumped from the seventh floor of a building on his campus Monday, the Information Times said, citing a witness.

    “I heard him say ‘do not force me’ and ‘give me two more days and I’ll return you the money,’” the report quoted the witness as saying.

    “He talked on the phone for more than 10 minutes. I saw him hang up, stand up and then all in a sudden he just disappeared,” she said.

    Lin was rushed to hospital in Panyu District, but doctors were not able to revive him, the newspaper said.

    Another student described as a classmate of Lin’s said the gambler had lost nearly 20,000 yuan in bets on several World Cup games, it said.

    “We heard that he borrowed quite a lot of money and the interest rate was rather high,” said the student, according to the report.

    China has millions of football fans, some of who are both devoted viewers and passionate gamblers.

    Sales of a government-run World Cup-related lottery reached 4 billion yuan by Saturday, nearly twice the 2.3 billion yuan sold during the 2010 tournament, China News Service reported yesterday.

    Total sales of the tickets are expected to exceed 10 billion yuan, it said, citing an official with the General Administration of Sport.

    (SD-Agencies)