PokerStars / Full Tilt Announce Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund
Canada’s Amaya Gaming, the parent company of online poker giants PokerStars and Full Tilt, has announced the creation of an emergency relief fund designed to provide relief to the victims of Saturday’s immense earthquake in Nepal.
Well over 5,000 fatalities have already been confirmed as a result of the 7.8 quake and significant aftershocks, mostly due to the collapse of occupied buildings. Several thousand more likely victims remain unaccounted for. The vast majority of the quake’s victims were in small, mountainous Nepal, though casualties also occurred in the neighboring countries of Nepal, China and India. The earthquake’s epicenter was located northwest of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, close to and to the east of Pokhara, in central Nepal.
Amaya, via its PokerStars and Full Tilt sites, has announced that it will match, dollar for every dollar donated by players, all contributions received from its player population. The PokerStars and Full Tilt sites have also seen the temporary addition of ways to channel relief donations to the fund, whether through direct monetary transfers, charity tournaments, and even transfers of unused Frequent Player Points (FPP).
All funds generated through the disaster-relief drive will be forwarded to CARE International, a long-recognized relief organization which has already mobilized relief efforts in the region. As many as a million Nepalese, in the capital of Kathmandu and surrounding regions, may be in need of immediate assistance in the quake’s aftermath.
The earthquake relief fund continues a long tradition at PokerStars of driving charitable contribution efforts for areas hit by major natural disasters. As noted in a brief presser (below), Stars generated more than a half million dollars in relief for victims of 2013’s Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines and other Micronesian countries, killing well over 6,000.
Other notable Stars-promoted charitable efforts in the past have brought relief to victims of both the Indian Ocean (2004) and Japan (2011) tsunamis, plus the major China earthquake in 2008 and even victims of the United States’ Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Here’s how Amaya announced the PokerStars/Full Tilt Nepal earthquake relief effort:
PokerStars and Full Tilt are calling on the poker community to support relief operations in earthquake-hit Nepal. On Saturday, April 25, a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region, most prominently Kathmandu, causing widespread destruction.
The death toll has quickly moved into the thousands, with experts warning that nearly a million children have been severely affected by Nepal’s worst earthquake in 80 years. Action must be taken immediately to prevent further tragedy.
In response, PokerStars and Full Tilt have set up multiple ways – tournament lobbies, player transfer and FPP donations – for players to donate. The Amaya (TSX: AMA) brands will match all player and staff donations made to CARE International in the same way as the Typhoon Haiyan relief fund, which raised more than $560,000 in 2013.
Find out more:
https://www.pokerstars.com/en/blog/corporate_blog/2015/post-18-155438.shtml
Learn how to donate:
https://www.pokerstars.com/poker/promotions/nepal-earthquake-appeal/
The CARE International donation page:
http://www.careinternational.org.uk/pokerstars-nepal-earthquake-appeal
The Nepal earthquake was the largest to hit that region in more than 80 years, though the geologically active Himalayan range is historically the site of some of the world’s most violent seismic activity.
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