Online gambling sites remain the top targets for distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, but Bitcoin exchanges are increasingly finding digital bulls-eyes on their backs.

This week, cyber security software and services outfit Imperva released its Global DDoS Threat Landscape Q3 2017 report, detailing the targets and methods of the digital miscreants who bombard websites with data, sometimes seeking a ransom payment to stop the attack, other times to hobble a competitor.

As one might expect from previous reports of this type, Imperva found that over one-third of network layer attacks targeted online gambling sites and related services. Gambling topped all other industries with 34.5% of attacks, while gaming sites scored 14.4%, and internet services – including business process outsourcing companies working for gambling operators – ranked third with 10.8%.

The attacks on gambling operators and related services contributed to what Imperva called the “atypical” appearance of both Taiwan and the Philippines on the list of Top Attacked Countries, reportedly the result of some “large campaigns” targeting Asian-facing gambling operators.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister paid another ominous ‘working visit’ to the Primorye far east gaming zone this week to check on the progress of new casino projects.

In August, Deputy PM Yuri Trutnev expressed displeasure with the general lack of interest among casino operators in putting down roots in Primorye, as well as the slow pace of development by the operators who had expressed interest. Trutnev warned that Moscow could take control of the region if things didn’t improve.

On Tuesday, Trutnev was back in town to personally inspect the progress of two in-development Primorye projects: Russian operator Diamond Fortune Holdings’ Selena resort, and Cambodian operator NagaCorp’s Naga Vladivostok. The Selena project is still prepping the ground to lay its foundation, while the Naga project is a little further along.

Trutnev was typically blunt in quizzing NagaCorp VP Dennis Chan when his resort expects to open, to which Chan offered a mid-2019 target, although he quickly promised to “work without interruption all winter” in the hopes of accelerating that timeline (and presumably avoiding an all-expenses-paid trip to the gulag).

Another day, another trip to the woodshed for the UK’s gambling operators, whose arses – if not their faces – must be getting pretty red by now.

Speaking on the first day of GambleAware’s fifth annual Harm-Minimization Conference, Tracey Crouch, Minister for Sport, Tourism & Heritage, urged the industry members in attendance to “take a hard look at what you’re producing” in terms of gambling advertising.

Crouch’s department hinted last year that new advertising restrictions were likely to follow the government’s triennial review of the gambling industry, although the review ultimately stopped short of imposing draconian restrictions based on its failure to find a hard link between gambling promos and problem gambling prevalence.

Despite dodging this bullet, Crouch warned that, despite already strict controls over gambling advertising content and broadcast windows, “it’s still very unpopular” with the general public. Crouch warned operators not to “push the boundaries” of what’s considered responsible marketing.

Brazil’s agonizingly slow path to liberalizing its gambling market took yet another detour to Tardy Town this week, but politicians promised that forward progress is just around the corner.

On Wednesday, the Constitutionality and Justice Committee (CCJ) was scheduled to vote on PLS 186/2014, the Senate’s version of the perennially delayed gambling legislation that has been trying to drag Brazil’s market into the 21st century for several years now.

However, in the days before Wednesday’s vote, several senators put forward controversial new amendments, including one that would require gaming operators to enter into partnerships in which local companies would hold at least a 30% stake, while another amendment proposed a blanket 30% tax on all land-based and online gambling revenue.

Thankfully, neither of those amendments appear to have been incorporated into the bill, although the CCJ did agree to include a prohibition on slots and video bingo machines outside of casinos, while also handing control of the jogos do bicho (animal game lottery) to the federal government rather than the individual states.