The rise of "soft gambling" such as blind box openings and lottery discounts reveals addictive business models

Author: John Wang, Crypto KOL

Compiled by: Felix, PANews

A girl bought 3 Pop Mart blind boxes and filmed a cozy unboxing video on TikTok. She softly said, "I hope I get the sleepy bear… but honestly, anything cute will do."

A boy tore open a $500 Pokémon booster box during a live stream, his eyes glued to the camera. "If I don't pull a PSA 10 Charizard, this whole box is worthless," he mumbled.

Gambling doesn't always look like poker chips and slot machines. Sometimes it resembles pink bunnies, blind boxes, and whispering TikTok videos. Between shopping therapy and roulette, a new behavioral trend targeting female consumers is beginning to emerge. The same random reward mechanism, but with completely different stakes, atmospheres, and psychology. And "soft gambling": a gentle casino aimed at comfort rather than conquest.

1. Women as the Primary Target Audience

Take a look at the user demographics of the biggest "soft gambling" brands:

• Pop Mart blind box toys: 75% are female, with a repurchase rate of 50% (that's insane)
• Cross-border e-commerce platforms Shein and Temu: Women account for 63% - 66%, while Amazon is predominantly male
• Social casino app Slotomania: 72% of active players are female, primarily aged 35 to 55

In contrast, the proportion of female participants in the World Series of Poker in 2025 is only 4%.

The further away from real money gambling, and the more it leans towards pure surprise, the larger the female audience becomes.

2. What Does "Soft Gambling" Look Like?

• Pop Mart. Each series has 12 cute dolls, with one or two being "hidden" variants. Each box costs $10, and there is definitely a prize inside, but it may not be the one you want. Collectors film unboxing videos, trade duplicate styles, and keep repurchasing. According to the company, nearly half of the customers will buy again within a year.
• E-commerce platforms Shein and Temu. Lottery boxes are spin-the-wheel coupons or two-hour flash sales. Shopping turns into a video game loop like Candy Crush: click to draw, reveal results, stimulate dopamine release, and repeat.
• Social casino apps (like Slotomania or Bingo Blitz) digitally press the same buttons (free spins, confetti rewards, zero actual risk), earning billions through in-app purchases of virtual items.

All three follow the variable reward mechanism familiar to casino designers, but the stakes are emotional rather than monetary. Unlike poker or slot machines, these systems rarely disclose odds, creating a softer atmosphere. This is a low-risk, soft feedback loop of gambling designed to foster habitual participation rather than seek thrills.

3. Why Are the Effects So Significant?

• You won't completely lose out. Whether it's a bunny doll or a $2 lipstick, you always get something. This sense of security drives participation.
• Rituals outweigh high risks. Opening boxes, spinning wheels, showcasing results—these small rituals punctuate the day. A Pop Mart fan might softly say while unboxing to the tune of TikTok music, "I hope it's that sleepy bear…" Compare this to GTO expected value calculations and high-stakes gambling in poker. The former is self-soothing, while the latter is a zero-sum game.
• Aesthetics trump conquest: The reward lies not in resale value but in how the item fits the atmosphere, shelf, or mood. Pop Mart fans don't flaunt prices; they decorate scenes with playful Labubu and Sanrio plush toys. Male collectors often chase the powerful allure of a specific item ("I pulled a pocket rocket!"), while female collectors tend to seek complete sets that reflect personal taste ("I finally got the pink bunny, completing my zodiac series").
• Sharing joy rather than player vs. player: Memecoin traders flaunt images of 1000% profits. Pokémon unboxers showcase rare $400 items. Pop Mart unboxers display duplicate items on TikTok and ask, "Does anyone want this pink bunny?" The former is comparison, the latter is sharing and resonance.
• Saving money beats making money: Shein shoppers spin the wheel for a 20% discount and invite friends to unlock coupons. The thrill lies in the dopamine rush from unlocking discounts, not in beating the market.

Half of the Temu and Shein apps are for shopping, while the other half features "social gambling" mini-games that can unlock product discounts. It's very real and quite addictive.

4. Gambling Motivations

Academic research confirms these behavioral differences:

A study published in the journal Addictive Behaviors in 2024 found that men gamble more for money and competition, while women do so for escapism, emotional regulation, and social connection.

Another study indicated that women respond more strongly to low-risk reward loops, while men engage more when risks and potential rewards are higher.

Men gamble for glory; women gamble for pleasure.

5. The Business Model of Insane Retention Rates

Low prices and high sales drive the engine. Pop Mart's gross margin is about 60%; Shein gets users to open the app over 100 times a month. This casino doesn't need whale players; it needs hundreds of millions of bets at $10 each.

User lifetime value is not driven by jackpots or leaderboards. It is built on emotional attachment, soft rituals, and the desire to complete a set. This is why Pop Mart's retention rates far exceed those of traditional toy brands and mainstream retail.

6. Shopping Has Now Become Gambling

Whether called blind box retail, fashion-style lotteries, or soft slot machines, the mechanisms carry elements of gambling, just without the wildness of traditional gambling.

Shein, Temu, and TikTok Shop all employ the same dopamine-stimulating framework and expand it into a complete retail ecosystem:

• Shein: Daily spin-the-wheel lotteries, app-exclusive flash sale packages, recommendation pushes instead of searches, with over 100 app openings per month
• Temu: Flash sales, social invitation coupon wheels, first-day "spin-the-wheel" mechanisms (female clicks are 1.4 times that of males)
• TikTok Shop: Shopable unboxing videos tagged with "mystery packages," which have engagement rates 2-4 times higher than regular products. This "surprise premium" is very real.

Each platform has turned shopping into a gamified loop: browse → draw → potential win → repeat. Contrary to intuition, the prize is not the product itself, but the dopamine rush from opening the box.

7. Conclusion

For women who rarely appear at the poker table, these softer venues provide the same suspense without any sense of shame.

The feminized side of gambling is not about chasing jackpots. It's about chasing a feeling: the moment before the box opens, before the wheel stops spinning, or before the flash sale appears. This effectively proves that spending ten dollars can buy happiness. And this makes the "possibility economy" the most addictive casino on Earth.