在中国，越南，菲律宾，韩国和柬埔寨的等亚洲东南亚国家，社会工作者向领导人施压，已使领导官员和国家立法者认识到一个隐藏的流行病-博彩游戏的流行。 “这是一个特殊的利益集团在经营运作，是一个麻烦的问题。”提摩太芳如是说：，提摩太芳是加州大学洛杉矶分校赌博研究项目和亚洲的赌博研究的共同主任。 “我们认为这是真实的。”

　　没有人真正知道赌博问题赌博对亚裔社区影响究竟有多深，因为亚洲人没有被打破作为一个国家或加州的研究组在这个问题上参加研究。但1999年在旧金山的唐人街调查，发现1808受访者中，有70％的人认为被列为他们的社区的1号问题就是赌博。

　　在后续的民意调查，21％的受访者认为自己是病态赌徒和16％的人称自己是问题赌徒， 这个比例显著高于整体人口甚至更高。目前的数据表明，1.6％的美国人可以归类为病态赌徒，作为一个精神失常认可的条件。约3％以上被视为问题赌徒。

　　赌博同样已成为美国成年人消遣方式的首选。每一年，在全国赌博游戏产业比电影，音乐会，体育赛事和游乐园相加起来超过75亿美元。任何赌博城市都比不上在加利福尼亚州，近60印第安赌场，棋牌室，赛马场和互联网赌博网站，以及全国最丰厚的国家彩票发行城市之一。

　　在美国，亚洲赌徒是美国赌博市场繁荣发挥了关键作用。这些在美国赌博收益中总有一些统计数字存在，在洛杉矶和旧金山估计附近的一些赌场和棋牌室，亚洲人往往占到80％的客户。 “亚洲人是一个巨大的市场，”华尔道夫，旧金山北部的缓存溪赌场发言人温迪说。 “我们迎合他们。”

　　在圣盖博，蒙特利公园市和旧金山的唐人街的每一天，数十巴士聚集在印度赌场，雷诺和拉斯维加斯的免费junkets的亚洲客户。许多内华达州赌场还保持在蒙特利公园市内，主机保持与亚洲高辊的定期接触的业务办事处。接触到更多的运行，轧机的赌徒，赌场运行的印刷和广播媒体的广告通常有亚洲语言，甚至直接邮寄宣传活动到亚裔居民。

　　译文：

　　An Emerging Community Issue

　　In Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Korean and Cambodian communities, social workers and leaders are pressuring gaming officials and state legislators to recognize a hidden epidemic. "This isn't a special-interest group overblowing a problem," said Timothy Fong, co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program, which is conducting an Asian gambling study. "We think this is real."

　　Nobody really knows how deeply problem gambling reaches into Asian communities because Asians have not been broken out as a group in national or California studies on the issue. But a 1999 poll in San Francisco's Chinatown, commissioned by a social services agency, found that 70% of 1,808 respondents ranked gambling as their community's No. 1 problem.

　　In a follow-up poll, 21% of respondents considered themselves pathological gamblers and 16% more called themselves problem gamblers -- rates significantly higher than in the overall population. Current data suggest that 1.6% of Americans can be classified as pathological gamblers, a condition recognized as a psychiatric disorder. About 3% more are considered problem gamblers.

　　Gambling has become America's adult pastime of choice. Each year, more money is spent in the nation's $75-billion gaming industry than on movies, concerts, sporting events and amusement parks combined. And nowhere is gambling on a bigger roll than in California, with nearly 60 Indian casinos, scores of card rooms, racetracks and Internet gambling sites as well as one of the nation's most lucrative state lotteries.

　　Asian gamblers play a key role in that success. Though few statistics on their contribution to the state's gambling pot exist, some casinos and card rooms near Los Angeles and San Francisco estimate that Asians often account for 80% of their customers. "Asians are a huge market," said Wendy Waldorf, a spokeswoman for the Cache Creek Casino north of San Francisco. "We cater to them."

　　Each day in San Gabriel, Monterey Park and San Francisco's Chinatown, scores of buses collect Asian customers for free junkets to Indian casinos and to Reno and Las Vegas. Many Nevada casinos also maintain business offices in Monterey Park, where hosts keep in regular touch with Asian high rollers. To reach more run-of-the-mill gamblers, casinos run ads in Asian-language print and broadcast media and conduct direct-mailing campaigns to ZIP Codes with high numbers of Asian residents.