"We are seriously concerned about the rise of surrogate technologies," Moscow deputy mayor Sergei Baidakov said during a media briefing.

The deputy mayor said nearly a third of Moscow's 525 casinos and slot machine halls have opened "lottery parlors" to sell instant lottery tickets, whilst the number of Internet cafes providing access to online gambling resources has risen three times since July.
Since July 1, gambling has been confined to four special zones.

Government threats to clamp down on gambling began in 2006 under then-president Vladimir Putin. Putin is now the Russian prime minister, but, the former KGB operative is believed to run the government, nonetheless. 

Deputy mayor Baidakov said the budget had suffered little from the disappearance of gambling, with tax revenues down 0.5 percent.
"It's nil,” he said.





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