Many Thai students are addicted to laying bets on football games, with some female students paying their debts by providing sexual favours, research findings revealed yesterday. It was also found that newspaper columnists conjecturing on the winning scores influenced the gambling habit among youngsters.

The questionnaires were completed by a sampling group of 18 students aged between 15 and 25 over June and July. It was found that most of these students had been placing bets on football matches for eight years.

Some of the female respondents confessed to having sex in order to pay off their debts.

Read more: The Nation