Poor countries like to gamble with little for much, Europeans and Americans are aware of the odds trap, Chinese people only believe in themselves.

When choosing markets for international expansion, cultural adaptability is key to conversion efficiency, and understanding the user's mindset is particularly important.

Poor countries like to gamble with little to gain much:

Take the Philippines and Brazil as examples.

In the Philippines, many gamblers bet under economic pressure, seeing gambling as an opportunity to turn their lives around, and also as a personal space to relieve anxiety. The most popular games include lottery, Bingo, street card games, cockfighting, and Jueteng. They are accustomed to betting small amounts frequently for high returns.

Despite being only moderately successful in online lottery sales, the Philippine lottery still reached a sales volume of 63 billion pesos in 2023; BingoPlus, with its single Bingo product, contributed one-third of PIGO's total revenue. Slot machines are also popular in the Philippines, perfectly matching the "gamble small, win big" mentality.

The situation in Brazil is similar: half of the population has experience purchasing lottery tickets, the highest rate in the world; Bingo and slot machines are also well-established everywhere, and "Fortune Tiger" is popular in Brazil for this reason. Surveys show that 98% of Brazilians remain optimistic even when losing money, with very low moral opposition to gambling, and their faith in changing their fate through betting remains unshaken even after years of losses. This is also why Brazil's resources are not exhausted in four years.

Westerners are aware of the odds trap:

Westerners are clearly not so easily reliant on gambling as a fate determinant. As the birthplace of the global compliant gambling system, Western society has 400 years of gambling experience. Most people see it as entertainment or a social activity, not a financial strategy. Surveys show that young people in the UK and the US bet mostly for fun; even if they dream of making a profit, the primary motive is still the experience and enjoyment. Additionally, 53% of Western gamblers are aware that the odds are against them, indicating a significantly higher maturity in gambling awareness compared to the global average.

They prefer games with a sense of competition and interaction, such as sports, poker, table games, and slot machines. However, the attitude of Western gambling is truly reflected in the belief that experience > winning money.

Chinese only trust themselves:

Chinese gamblers have a clear motive: to make money. Compared to the entertainment-focused mindset of the West, Chinese gamblers place great importance on outcomes. They even organize skill notes and invent betting strategies, mysterious charts, and the globally known Baccarat bead plate. Their belief is: "My fate is in my own hands, not dictated by heaven."

Chinese players generally underestimate risks and overestimate their abilities, firmly believing that personal decisions outweigh systematic probabilities. Not only in China, but groups in the Confucian cultural sphere such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam also easily fall into the gambler's fallacy, believing they can win back what they have lost after multiple losses. Before betting, they often look for reasons to bet through historical win/loss records and card path analysis.

The Chinese market covers sports, table games, card games, lottery, and poker. Although not very enthusiastic about slot machines, the market size is huge, and even teams that "only make the least popular slot machines" have made a fortune. China is the largest single market globally and currently also has the highest compliance risks and the greatest difficulty in customer acquisition.

Know yourself and your opponent, then you can profit invisibly. May all who venture abroad precisely grasp cultural differences and create suitable products in the right places.