From: Thoai Nguyen Date: 07/01/2015 3:23 PM (GMT-05:00) To: Amy Jones , Mike Donnelly Cc: Thoai Nguyen Subject: Mural Comments for Social Media Comments by Thoai Nguyen July 1, 2015 Fables of Fortune Mural Unveiling While SEAMAAC is proud to be associated with Fables of Fortune, a beautiful and provocative work of public art, one that celebrates Asian and Asian American cultures and depicts the recovery and resiliency sides of pathological gambling, make no mistake about where SEAMAAC stands on the issue of the casino industry and their practice of convenient and predatory gambling in Philadelphia preying on new immigrant and working-class communities. Although politicians and city officials often claim that there is no evidence that Asian Americans face greater challenges to pathological gambling than the general population, in SEAMAACs own research we have found there is a wealth of academic and community-based research out there that proves otherwise. For instance:

A 2014 UCLA study showed that the rate of gambling addiction for Asians ranges from 6 percent to nearly 60 percent, depending on the specific Asian ethnicity (Southeast Asian refugees scoring highest). This is in contrast to the general population where the pathological gambling rate is 1 to 2 percent.

Statistics of Casinos surrounding the areas of Los Angeles and San Francisco estimate that Asians often account for 80% of their customers. And that these same casinos openly admit to their aggressive campaigns of marketing and catering to Asian Americans, by hiring people from within these communities, offering websites in specific Asian languages, and foods and entertainment acts that cater to Asian clienteles.

A community survey conducted by the San Francisco Chinese Health Coalition and UC Berkeley found that 14.7 percent of Chinese subjects identified themselves as problem gamblers, and 21 percent met the criteria for pathological gambling.

A University of Connecticut Health Center study showed that of Southeast Asian refugees surveyed in Connecticut, 59 percent of Laotians, Cambodians, and Vietnamese met the criteria for pathological gambling.

With reports such as these, it is crucial that our city officials begin to recognize pathological gambling as an urgent public health issue, not only for Asian Americans, but for all residents of Philadelphia. Casinos are not the answer to the citys budget problems, they are not the answer to funding our public education and services for the elderly. The casino industry is a profit-making entity and seeks nothing other than to bleed our community. Lets not pretend otherwise. We hope that Fables of Fortune will ignite conversations and resistance to further developments of predatory gambling in our neighborhoods. Thank you