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This is awesome news. Big public thank you to Jen at 888 for the tip off yesterday and go ahead to tell the world about this wonderful news. Long live the Aussie “Gumleaf Mafia!” Fits right into the Underbelly casino and gambling themes. Let’s lock up the bastards who lit the fires for a few lifetimes. Here’s to people power.
Best Regards from down under.
Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia
Casino News Media
Australian Casino News@NathanCAP 197894 wrote:
$30 buy-in online poker tourney planned
February 18, 2009 (InfoPowa News) — Kudos to 888.com on a new initiative it has launched to assist victims of the recent and tragic bushfires in Australia.
The Gibraltar-based online gambling group will be hosting the “Bushfire Relief Charity Tournament” to help the families impacted by the Victoria territory tragedy, which has so far claimed 200 lives.
The No-Limit Texas Hold’em tournament will take place on Sunday, February 22nd at 8:30pm AEDT with a $30 buy-in, and all buy-ins (and re-buys) will be donated to the relief fund.
888 will be awarding prizes in the event, and expects a major turnout from player around the world looking to help a worthy cause and enjoy some great competitive poker with a very reasonable buy-in at the same time.
Very nice of them indeed.
I do wonder why they chose to fund relief to Australians as opposed to a war torn region, like, say, Gaza or Iraq, which could probably do with the money a bit more.
Fair play to 888 though – we need to see more of this!
I don’t know if that’s a fair criticism, Tom. Raising money for victims of a natural disaster is much different than raising money for countries involved in a war (even if those countries aren’t in the war by choice). That would be seen as a political statement, and most companies tend to avoid that sort of thing.
In no way whatsoever was it a criticism of what 888 were doing, more an observation. I think it’s great that a gaming company is going out of its way to help in disaster relief.
Agreed on the political aspect and fully understand the reasons why 888 have seen fit to look to a stable region such as Australia to donate to. I’m a huge advocate of corporate social responsibility and believe that gaming companies owe it to themselves as much as anything to further develop strategies that become strong enough to transcend political controversy.
Case in point – it would have been interesting to see the consequences should the US (and international) gaming industry have come together and raised relief for those in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, as well as the significant damage to offline gaming infrastructure in the region. Not saying it would have prevented UIGEA, but it would have provided an excellent building block for constructing a more positive popular opinion of internet gambling, particularly in the Deep South.
