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Equinties - the difference
BGP Capital
January 08, 2026
Gm, Equinauts
A bit of different newsletter today, we’ve written a little essay on gambling cultures. Enjoy.
Now let’s dive in!
HEADLINE ROUND UP
THE DIFFERENCE
The number 8 in China, a Kit Kit in Japan, Asian’s loves their good luck charms. They’re a continent of nations where luck and fate are genuinely intertwined with the main fabric of their every day lives.
In Hong Kong, most wedding schedules invite the guests to show up at 4 and be seated by 8. What they mean by show up at 4 is come for mahjong games where the family can all spend some time together and gamble.
The Chinese tend to spend a lot of their summer time in Australia or New Zealand to escape the heat. A Kiwi property developer was once able to sell his whole 33 house development in Tahiti in under two days even though the properties were right next to a casino - considered undesirable by most native New Zealanders. They were all Chinese buyers.
Over here in the UK, unfortunately gambling carries a horrible moral stigma and we certainly have no emotional connection to luck or fate as a nation. Maybe that’s because the British stiff upper lips told themselves that they were in charge of their own fate and solely responsible for any success they might have, instead of allowing ‘luck’ the reason for any success they might have.
It’s owed to this cultural difference, gambling is effectively seen as a sin to most here, despite the evident joy it can give people. Even our late Queen gambling at the races with a smile on her face wouldn’t have done much to sway opinion.
Is Britain simply a nation full of boring hypocrites who have condemned gambling as a practice perfect for the pits of hell, except for when they want to slap their tenner down on their favourite colour in the Grand National… the WORLDS biggest betting product, still!? The same people who will call for gambling to be banned will still play the sweep stakes with mates. Pathetic.
It cannot be overstated how much the cultural differences impact our social habits when it comes to gambling, but what about the product differences? Let’s first look at the turnover of betting countries across the world. Last year, Japan’s racing turnover was an astounding $23 BILLION in turnover for 2025. Double that of the US. Four times that of Australia.
Guess what the inventors of horse racing, us, turned over? A poultry £4billion. Japan sh*t all over us on terms of money spent gambling on a per capita basis.
Like Australia and other buoyant and thriving betting nations, Japan’s betting product is a highly efficient and integrated pari-mutuel system under the Japan Racing Association (JRA), a government-backed monopoly that fosters massive participation through various outlets such as convenient off-track and online betting offering diverse markets such as trifectas. Liquidity is deep and winners aren’t banned. Why do you think Patrick Veitch has made the move to do business there?
In the UK, we operate a fixed-odds betting market dominated by private bookmakers who ban winners. ‘Go racing’ some will say. Bull sh*t, not every one can go racing to have a bet. The decline in our betting turnover is a result of the unfavourable business terms from the private bookmakers, all exacerbated by ridiculous financial checks. it is with little surprise punters are turning to the black-market to play.
Our current betting product isn’t fit for British horse racing. The Horserace Betting Levy yield around £109m last year, the Levy Board contributing £72.7m to prize money. When the UK betting turn over is £4b, something is wrong. Per capita, Japan’s betting product is returning up to 20x more to racing than the Levy does for Britain.
Want to fix British racing? Fix the betting product and make gambling great again.
