Calvin Ayre Haiti Challenge
Article Published:
20/01/2010 10:49:55
Bodog founder and business magnate Calvin Ayre has issued a challenge to the online gambling industry to raise as much money as possible to support the people of Haiti. The recent earthquake in Haiti has cost hundreds of thousands of lives, and the Calvin Ayre Foundation responded immediately by sending Oxfam £10,000 to help provide some relief. However, Calvin has gone a lot further than that by promising to match any donation to Oxfam by anyone in the online gambling industry, up to a maximum of $1,000,000.
The call to action has been warmly welcomed by the online gambling industry, with companies running online casinos, poker rooms and sports betting sites responding to the challenge with a high level of enthusiasm. This generous response might surprise those who have never been involved in online gambling either as an industry member or as an online player, but for those of us have been part of the gaming community for some time such generosity comes as no surprise at all.
Haiti has been an impoverished nation for many years, and it is impossible to exaggerate the amount of devastation that the recent earthquake and aftershocks have caused. Although countries around the world were quick to pledge millions in aid, the damage to the Haitian infrastructure was such that it has taken days to start getting food, water, medical supplies and other essentials through to the people who need it.
Even when the immediate disaster has been dealt with, the people of Haiti will need a vast amount of support as they set about the task of rebuilding their crippled nation. This means that the initial wave of money offered by governments and charitable organisations globally will need to be followed by sustained assistance costing many millions more.
We applaud the challenge issued by Calvin Ayre and hope that the generosity of the online gambling industry results in him making his maximum $1,000,000 donation. Calvin wants to do that and, if the widespread attitude of the industry is anything to go by, plenty of other people want it to happen too.
