VOA新闻杂志2023 美国要求体育博彩资助戒赌服务（在线收听）

Help for Gamblers as Sports Betting Rise in US

美国要求体育博彩资助戒赌服务

People in the American state of Kentucky will be able to legally bet on sporting events for the first time in September. When they do, they also help to pay for the first-ever state program to help people with gambling problems.

今年9月，美国肯塔基州的人们将首次能够合法地在体育赛事上下注。当他们下注时，他们还承担了有史以来首个州级戒赌项目的费用。

Five years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for legalized sports betting. Almost three-fourths of U.S. states have since permitted sports betting but support for problem gambling services has been limited. Now, more states like Kentucky are requiring at least some sports gambling money to go toward helping addicted gamblers.

五年前，美国最高法院为体育博彩合法化扫清了道路。此后，美国近四分之三的州允许体育博彩，但对戒赌服务的支持有限。现在，更多像肯塔基州这样的州要求至少将部分体育博彩资金用于帮助上瘾的赌徒。

Research shows that younger, higher-educated men are among the most likely to bet on sports. Technology has made gambling much easier. In many states, people can now bet on smartphone apps, 24 hours a day. People can bet not only on the winners of games but on all sorts of events that happen during the game.

研究表明，受过高等教育的年轻男性最有可能在体育运动上下注。科技让赌博变得更加容易。在许多州，人们现在24小时可以在智能手机应用程序上下注。人们不仅可以把赌注押在比赛的获胜者身上，还可以押在比赛中发生的各种事件上。

For the last five years, legal sports betting brought in $3 billion in taxes for local and state governments. However, the states spent little on problem gambling services.

在过去的五年里，合法的体育博彩为地方和州政府带来了30亿美元的税收。然而，各州在戒赌服务上的支出很少。

In 2022, the state of Massachusetts budgeted $10 million for problem gambling services. And nine other states did not spend any. Most of the money from gambling went toward services like telephone helplines, counseling, and public awareness campaigns.

2022年，马萨诸塞州预算1000万美元用于戒赌服务。其他九个州没有任何支出。赌博带来的大部分资金用于电话求助热线、咨询和公众宣传活动等服务。

The federal government, which spends billions of dollars on substance abuse prevention and treatment, provides nothing for gambling problems.

联邦政府在药物滥用预防和治疗上花费了数十亿美元，却没有为戒赌提供任何帮助。

Kentucky is projected to spend about $575,000 in its first year on gambling problems.

肯塔基州预计第一年将在戒赌上花费约575000美元。

Michael R. Stone is the director of the nonprofit Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling. He said the amount of money is a good start, but "we've only got five certified gambling counselors in the state right now, and we're going to need probably five times that many..."

迈克尔·R·斯通是非营利组织肯塔基州戒赌委员会的主任。他说，这笔钱是一个良好的开端，但“我们目前在该州只有五名经过认证的戒赌顾问，我们可能需要五倍数量的……”

As of a year ago, 15 states and the District of Columbia had laws requiring some of the money from sports betting to go toward problem gambling services. But another 15 states did not.

截至一年前，15个州和哥伦比亚特区制定了法律，要求体育博彩的部分资金用于戒赌服务。但另有15个州没有这样做。

Since then, seven more states have either launched sports betting or passed laws to do so. All of those have required part of their sports betting money to go to problem gambling services, said Rachel Volberg. She is a researcher at the University of Massachusetts-Amhurst.

自那以后，又有七个州启动了体育博彩或通过了相关法律。雷切尔·沃伯格表示，所有这些州都要求将部分体育博彩资金用于戒赌服务。她是马萨诸塞大学阿姆赫斯特分校的研究员。