PPA Congratulates Community Generosity to Haiti
Written by Renee K | Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
The poker community can give itself a pat on the back for opening its hearts and purses to the efforts in aiding earthquake victims in Haiti. Poker players rushed to encourage their friends and fans to donate through the Red Cross and other charity groups, while online poker sites ran unique tournaments, with all proceeds going to Haiti.
Poker sites such as Poker Stars, Cake Poker and Full Tilt Poker provided easy to reach links for their customers to use in order to donate directly to Haiti charities, including UNICEF, the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.
Players were also given the opportunity to transfer funds from their online poker accounts directly to a unique Haiti Fund.
What is even more impressive is that these sites promised to match all donations made – dollar to dollar.
As a result, it was reported that over 50,000 poker players have donated online, with nearly $800K being raised. As a result of the poker sites’ promise to match these donations, this means that a cool $1.5 million will be making its way to victims of the horrendous earthquake.
The Poker Players Alliance, the group that represents over one million members around the United States, paid tribute to the generosity of the poker community.
“Like the rest of the world, the poker community is eager to do anything it can to aid Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake,” said former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, chairman of the Poker Players Alliance. “I applaud Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Cake Poker for providing poker players across the globe an easy way to make a contribution.”
“The generosity online poker players are showing makes me even more proud to be part of this community,” added D’Amato.
Other sporting communities in the United States also did their bit for Haiti. The National Hockey League donated $100,000, while Major League Baseball donated $1 million. The largest giver was The National Football League which donated a staggering $2.5 million.
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· Written by Renee K · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
