It's a stronger bet than it first sounds, although probably not in the way the author intended. Russia doesn't actually have to be the world leader in software development, they just have to be referred to as such by a news organization. Considering the linkbait trends in modern journalism, the following headline wouldn't surprise me, regardless of what the ground truth is: "Russia: The World's New Leader in Software Development?"
These bets are adjudicated by humans, not computers doing a string matching algorithm. If that article's headline was just a lead up to an answer of "No, not even close" or was even a reference to the bet itself followed by "no, not even close", I don't think anyone is going to argue that as a win. It has to be serious, and barring catastrophe at this point, that's not going to happen. "World leaders in botnet development" won't cut it, either.
