"The student gamblers are different from ordinary gamblers. For the students, making a correct prediction was more important than winning money," Liu said. "Our focus is to teach underage students how to distinguish between right and wrong rather than punish them," he added.

In the meantime, Guangzhou Daily published a story on Monday after receiving an anonymous phone call from a student who claimed that some students served as agents for off-campus bookies and collected wagers from classmates. The bookies contacted the students by cellphone text messages, the story said.

While the school is treating the errant students mildly, it is expecting the local public security bureau to crack down on off-campus sports bookies.

"We hope the police can be tougher on gambling, so that our students can focus on their studies without these bad influences from outside," Liu said.

He admitted that parents must also do more.

"Parents have to cooperate with schools in implementing school regulations, and be stricter with their children," Liu said. He complained that some parents pamper their children and buy them cell phones to bring to school, which is against school regulations.

The Sanshui school case was also discussed at a Sanshui bureau of education conference for middle school principals on Monday.

Bureau head Hu Ying told schools to strengthen the moral education of students to prevent law-breaking behavior.

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