Up to 40% of Russians say they would use self-exclusion from gambling

A survey of 3,000 Russian citizens suggests that self-exclusion is not just a compliance box-tick in Russia: up to 40% say they are ready to use it. For PSPs and operators, the interesting part is not the headline number itself, but the mix of reasons behind it — data misuse concerns, bankroll control, and existing betting problems.

1. 43% of respondents said they worry that third parties could use their data to place bets or join games on their behalf. In practice, that is the kind of concern that turns self-exclusion from a “responsible gambling” feature into a basic account-security and fraud-prevention issue.
2. 28% said they see a gambling ban as a way to control their financial habits, while 19% said they have already run into problems because of betting. Another 10% said they would act after pressure from relatives. So the demand is coming from several directions, not just from people already deep in trouble.
3. The data comes from a survey run by Russian financial marketplaces Viberu.ru and Evrokredit.ru. It also shows a familiar problem: 52% of respondents said they only learned about the self-exclusion function during the survey itself.
4. That gap matters. In May last year, a SuperJob survey of 1,600 citizens found that 46% of Russians did not plan to use self-exclusion. The numbers are not directly comparable in every detail, but they point in the same direction: awareness is still low, even when the feature exists on paper.
5. According to expert estimates, between 180,000 and 300,000 Russians could use the unified self-exclusion service for gambling in its first year of operation. For operators and payment providers, that is the scale to watch when assessing traffic loss, KYC friction, and the practical effect of exclusion rules on deposits.