Ukrainian Soldiers’ Online Gambling Addiction Amid Russia Attack: Impact on Global Economy

CNN Indonesia

Thursday, 02 May 2024 09:31 WIB

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —

Soldier Ukraine known as online gambling addiction while on duty amid the attack Russia and the ups and downs of the global economy.

Some soldiers are also said to be in debt and selling drones and thermal imaging cameras to fulfill their online gambling desires.

The Ukrainian Member of Parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko said that nine out of ten front soldiers were gambling addicts.

“This is a problem that is now destroying the morale of the army,” he said in a post on Telegram.

The press officer for the Aidar battalion in Ukraine, Ivan Zadonstev, said that one of the soldiers in his unit won 2.5 million hryvnias or about IDR 24 billion from online gambling.

“He thought he could win more and that’s why he lost everything, up to 400 hryvnias,” he told AFP last week.

Another soldier won a jackpot of 60 million hryvnias or about IDR 973 billion from gambling.

According to Zadontsev, the relatively high salaries of soldiers may be the reason why many workers are caught in gambling.

Salaries of soldiers on the battlefield are six times the national salary, which is 120,000 hryvnia or about 48 million Rp.

The Deputy Minister of Veteran Affairs of Ukraine, Oksana Syvak, also said that such a movement among Ukrainian soldiers was a psychological effect of the war that lasted more than two years.

In these difficult times, he continued, people often drank alcohol, consumed illegal drugs, smoked marijuana, and even got addicted to online gambling.

“This is a result of war, gambling is an escape from reality, a secondary response to extreme grief,” Syvak said.

The debate about online gambling addiction among soldiers came to the fore after young Sergeant Pavlo Petrychenko warned President Volodymyr Zelensky about the state of Ukrainian workers in the form of a petition last April.

In the petition, he said that online gambling is increasing among workers.

“For many people, gambling is the only way to cope with stress,” Petrychenko was quoted as saying in the petition AFP.

The petition reached 26,000 supporters in a few days and received a response from Zelensky.

On April 20, Zelensky signed an order banning soldiers from online gambling during the war, limiting advertising, launching a national campaign against the harmful effects of online gambling, and placing stop illegal sites.

The Ministry of Health of Ukraine will also launch a treatment strategy to combat online gambling addiction.

(one/block)