在中国，菲律宾，韩国，越南，柬埔寨社区，社会工作者正在向国家施压，要求国家立法承认一个隐藏的流行病。“这不是一个特殊的利益集团吹牛”，也是加州大学洛杉矶分校的赌博研究计划，该项目进行一个亚洲赌博研究。“我们认为这是真实的。”

　　没有人真的知道亚洲地区赌博问题的深刻性，因为亚洲人不被当做作一个集团在全国或加利福尼亚问题进行研究。但1999年委托社会服务机构在唐人街进行调查，发现1808受访者中，有70%的受访者把赌博作为社区1号问题。

　　在后续调查中，21%的受访者认为自己是病态赌徒和16%以上的称自己为问题赌徒——概率明显着高于受访者的总人数。目前的数据表明，1.6%的美国人可以分为病态赌徒，此确认为精神障碍。约3%以上被认为是问题赌徒。

　　赌博已经成为美国的成人娱乐的选择，在全国，博彩业总额达750亿美元，比每年电影，音乐会，体育赛事和游乐园的花费的总和还要花更多的钱。在加利福尼亚，赌博是一个大行业，有近60%印度赌场，分数卡房，赛马场和互联网赌博网站以及一个国家的最有利可图的国家彩票。

　　亚洲赌徒中发挥关键作用，亚洲人通常占80%的客户。亚洲人是一个巨大的市场，很多赌场都迎合他们的喜好。

　　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."