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Abstract Background During COVID-19, interest in video games increased and it continues to escalate. Excessive video gaming, common throughout the world, attracts concern among mental health professionals. Most internet gamers are youth and young adults. Persistent and recurrent gaming can lead to disorder, which may be associated with significant impairments of daily work and/or education activities. This comparative study examined gaming disorders among Russian and Kazakh university students and its association with gender, religiosity, loneliness, substance use, and eating behavior. Methods Data were collected from a cross-sectional sample of 1464 university students from Russia and Kazakhstan, 33.3% male, 66.7% female, 29.2% secular, and 70.8% non-secular during 2022–2023. The Qualtrics software platform was used for responses to the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short-Form, and the six-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Also, survey participants were asked about their substance use and eating behavior during gaming. All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS, version 25. Results The average amount of gaming disorder (GD) is higher among Russian than Kazakh students (14.2 vs. 12.9, p