Year in and year out, poker players have shown themselves to be among the most generous people around. Whether it is through live charity tournaments to benefit worthwhile causes, mass donation drives to help the victims of the Katrina disaster, or even something as simple as helping a fellow player in a time of need, poker players are more than willing to share their bankrolls. The poker community’s mettle was on display once again in January after Haiti was devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, which left millions of the country’s mostly poor citizens dead, injured, or homeless.
Last week, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) issued a press release stating that the online poker community had donated $1.5 million for earthquake victims. Now that January has come to a close and the final tally is in, the donations have easily exceeded that figure.
PokerStars alone contributed $1,492,780.52, half donated by players and the other half a matching donation made by the world’s largest poker room itself. PokerStars players were able to donate by transferring money to a special account called “Haiti Fund,” registering for special no-play Haiti relief tournaments, or by purchasing donations in the VIP Store. The entire sum is going to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
PokerStars’ closest rival, Full Tilt Poker, also stepped up in a big way for Haiti. According to its website, the second largest online poker room in the industry received 23,161 donations totaling $329,736.64. After matching the donations dollar for dollar, Full Tilt is sending $659,473.28 to the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and UNICEF. Full Tilt’s donation channels were essentially the same as those offered by PokerStars: a special “Aid for Haiti” account that accepted player transfers and several no-play tournaments.
While the total donation does not come close to the totals of PokerStars and Full Tilt, Cake Poker was one of the first to announce its plans for helping Haitian victims. It set up “holding tank” tournaments at five different buy-in levels: $5, $25, $100, $200, and $500. According to Lee Jones, Cake Poker’s Card Room Manager, Cake players donated $16,000 and, after Cake’s match, $32,000 will be contributed to relief efforts.
In addition to the preceding three poker rooms – as well as the numerous other online poker rooms that accepted donations from players – Bodog.com founder Calvin Ayre issued a challenge to members of the iGaming industry to open their wallets for Haiti. In return, he promised that his private foundation, the Calvin Ayre Foundation, will match any documented donation to Oxfam up to $1 million. To date, the Foundation has matched £155,316 ($247,911) from a variety of industry contributors, including the International Gaming Awards and online gaming watchdog site, Casinomeister.
Even though most of the online poker rooms have closed their donation drives, there is still an overwhelming need for aid in Haiti. If you wish to donate money, please contact your favorite charitable organization directly to see what you can do.
