The Asian CARES Research Report, titled “Living here, feeling so isolated and far from home,” was launched on October 27, and unpacked the root causes of problem gambling in the Asian community. The report aimed to illuminate how gambling addiction is really the “canary in the coalmine,” a sign of a larger problem that has to do with the alienation that many immigrants feel when they come to the United States. Key factors that can lead to trouble, according to the report, can be poverty, social and cultural loss due to immigration, and unhealthy stress relief.

“It’s all of these factors, that sometimes you wouldn’t directly connect with gambling, but that immigrants and working class Asians deal with every day,” said Ben Hires, chief executive officer of Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. “It’s the economic opportunities or lack of opportunities that are available to them. The language barriers limit where immigrants can feel welcome or where they can participate in activities that are familiar [to] them. Upstream of that is housing, in terms of the housing that’s available, the affordability. All of these things provide these pressures on families to try to make ends meet. Whether it’s to find an outlet to let off steam or find something fun to do, or just try to make ends meet and put food on the table, a quick fix seems like a last resort or a golden opportunity …” He added, “There are all these more systemic issues that are the origins, that create the scenarios for why people fall into this …”

In the study, interviews were conducted with 40 subjects, 43% of which were Chinese and 29% of which were Cambodian. 11% were Vietnamese, and 9% were Korean. Heang Leung Rubin, lead researcher of the report, said that one reason why interview subjects chose to gamble was due to a feeling that comes from social and cultural isolation: a very profound kind of boredom. 

“It’s not the same kind of boredom that a lot of us feel, where [you] don’t know what to do today or on the weekend. It’s not the same kind of boredom. It’s something much, much deeper,” said Rubin. “… For Asian immigrants who come here and are primarily working class, or come from situations of war and persecution, integrating into this country, finding meaning, finding dignity, finding jobs, fitting in – we keep talking about a sense of belonging – and being in cities where we feel like we belong; we don’t have that.”

Yoyo Yau, chief program officer of BCNC, said that there is an allure to the casino that draws people in. There is a shuttle bus that comes to Chinatown that makes it convenient for people to travel directly to the casino after work. The advertising makes the environment look particularly inviting. Once there, many Asian immigrants feel that they are “treated like a king,” said Yau, with culturally appropriate meals being served. They do not need to speak English to be able to participate in some activities, like using the slot machines. At the casino, said Yau, this particular group can have an experience that they cannot get anywhere else. 

Once a person falls into a cycle of gambling, problems are frequently found to arise at home. Individuals who have developed an addiction may experience financial ruin, and several interviewees explained that they had to ask friends for money, sell cars, or lose their businesses. Family arguments may increase, as may verbal and physical abuse. Gambling can damage the parent-child relationship, as one Chinese interviewee said, “There is a shadow on the child.” Child neglect occurs often, and people may become depressed. The fragile sense of happiness that the casino can provide can eventually lead to the deterioration of the family.

Wayne Yeh, an Asian American community activist, advocate, and policy director to a Boston city councilor, related what it was like to grow up with a father who had a gambling addiction. The son of Chinese-Lao refugee parents, Yeh recalls how this problem powerfully impacted his upbringing. His parents operated a doughnut shop for nearly 30 years, and the financial stress of the situation led them to send Yeh away to live with extended family for some time. Family disputes arose when his relatives refused to lend his father any more money to pay off debts or gamble. He eventually returned home to a life where his parents would frequent the casino nearly every evening, his mother accompanying his father.

“My siblings and I would wait in the car, sometimes at night, waiting for our parents to come back from gambling, before we would go home,” said Yeh. He added that his father’s problem led him to develop feelings of resentment. “For me, it was a lack of relationship with my parents, [despite] not having been raised by them, for the first 10 years of my life. Especially with my dad, there was a lack of a real relationship, more so than with my mom.”

Yau said that people seeking out help need linguistic and culturally appropriate services. According to the report, there is a lack of these kinds of treatment options available to the community and also a lack of trust in what is available. Ethnicity-specific and community led organizations may be best suited to provide help through programs, services, and interventions. BCNC collaborates with other organizations to provide healthy recreational activities, such as ping pong or karaoke, that people can participate in instead of going to the casino. For Rubin, she noticed the strong emotions that came through in the interviews.

“I read all the transcripts,” said Rubin. “I met with the field workers every week, to talk to them about what they were hearing and to ensure that the interview process was fairly consistent across communities. Some of the feelings were that sense of loss, that feeling of loss about not feeling like they belong or are accepted in this country. A feeling of despair and hopelessness, that we have this problem and don’t know where to go. … I just think there was this sense of, ‘who really cares about this problem?’ To me, that’s the despair. … People feel like it’s such a difficult issue to address. The systemic issues are so deep and so interwoven and connected. I think there is a lot of despair about how we address this issue.”