Russians more irked by online gambling than drug trafficking

Russians are far more likely to be irked by online gambling sites than either drug trafficking or child pornography, according to the nation’s digital watchdog.

Russian telecom overseers Roskomnadzor recently released their third-quarter statistics on the types of complaints it received from the general public regarding suspected instances of online content forbidden under Russian law.

Roskomnadzor received 63,215 complaints related to online gambling in the three months ending September 30, nearly 5k more than the agency received in the third quarter of 2017. The online gambling stats dwarfed the next-highest complaint categories: drug trafficking (19,415 complaints), child pornography (10,105) and sites apparently promoting suicide as a fun way to while away an afternoon (9,180).

Online gambling’s overrepresentation on this chart likely has to do with the fact that Russians have been bombarded this year by brazen digital promos for illegal online casino operators such as Azino777. The company has liberally employed Russian hip-hop stars to rap rhapsodically about the joys of blowing your paycheck playing online slots.