£190k in donations secured from Gambling Industry for Ukraine
The Gaming Industry for Ukraine last week pledged to raise £250,000 to support Choose Love’s Ukraine’s Crisis Fundraiser and has advised that it now reached £190,000 towards the goal. Choose Love set up the fundraiser with a target of £2,500,000 to support members of the public displaced in the country and fleeing from the war. Organizations within the gaming industry have been working together to help people affected by the military operations in Ukraine.
The gambling industry raises over £190k for Choose Love’s Ukrainian appeal. ©TheDigitalArtist/Pixabay
What is the appeal?
Choose Love set up the fundraiser to support Ukrainian civilianswho are caught up in the war following Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. The target for the fundraiser is £2,500,000. They are aiming to supply emergency medical care, shelter, food, clothes, legal support, mental health support, and general support for the LGBTQIA+ community. The war has so far caused more than 2 million people to leave their homes. There has been a particularly strong desire from the gaming industry to support the Ukrainian people. A specific GoFundMe campaign has been established by the industry requesting donations from the gaming industry
A global community
The team behind the Go Fund Me campaign says that the gaming industry is a global family and that this is why they wanted the industry to come together. Most gambling organizations have links to Ukraine and employ people from the country. The fundraising team is headed up by Rasmus Sojmark who is CEO and founder of SBC and Sport Global Group. Other team members include Carolina Pelc, Shona ODonnell, and Oryx Gaming. So far over £190,000 has been raised with donations of £50,000 from Betsson. Games Global, Microgaming, and Alexandre Tomic all donated £10,000. There have also been sizeable donations from Fun Fair Games, Fast Track, FSB Technology, Sports Media Holding, Cash Magnet, Green Jade Games, Continent8 Games, Beyond Play, SBC, VIXIO, and Clarion Gaming to name but a few of the two hundred and seven individual donations made.
Sojmark put out an appeal via LinkedIn earlier this week, asking for further donations:
“The war in Ukraine is unfortunately still here!! The gaming industry will continue to push harder and harder on our fundraising efforts to offer the support we can and should! The ‘Gaming Industry for Ukraine’ fundraiser has now raised £183,412 with another £20,000 pledged which will take it above £200,000. It’s great to see our strong industry coming together and helping out, and another big thank you to the ones driving this particular fundraiser: Karolina Pelc, Shona ODonnell, Kelly Kehn, Andrew McCarron, and David Knight. We hope to hit the £250,000 this week, and will push even further if we can, which will, of course, be down to the gaming industry to continue to show its support.”
What is the gambling industry doing?
As well as raising funds to support Ukrainians on the ground, the gambling industry has acted swiftly to withdraw operations from Russia. Genius Sports, Parimatch, Statscore, European Lotteries, Bet 365, and Leo Vegas have all withdrawn their Russian operations. Points Bet, Draft Kings and FanDuel have also withdrawn their support for any Russian sporting events
Aspire Global
On March 9th it was reported that Aspire Global was to close its contract with the operator of the Russian National Lottery, Sports Lotteries LLC. The Malta-based sports betting and gaming software company did not directly reference the war but cited a ‘different business view’ as the reason behind the termination.
BETER
On the same day, the Cyprus-based gaming provider BETER announced that it was terminating co-operation with all of its Russian-based business partners. A quote on the company’s official Twitter feed says it is:
“morally unable to continue doing business with a country that is an aggressor nation for many of BETER’s partners and stakeholders.”
It will be ceasing all business activities in Russia and has given notice on all co-operation with suppliers based in Russia.
Direct appeal to gaming industry
Mykhailo Fedoro, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister has put out a direct appeal for all game development companies and esports platforms to halt any business with Russia following Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
Choose Love Update
A statement on Choose Love’s website says that they have had a team of two people on the ground for the last week to understand what is needed by all those who are fleeing their homes. At the time of writing the statement, they said that roughly 1.2 million people had fled the country while 700,000 people were internally displaced within the country. These figures are expected to rise as the invasion continues.
The statement goes on to read:
Normal supply chains into Ukraine have been completely disrupted, with points of entry monitored and normal trade halted. With heavy Putin directed shelling on cities and civilian facilities targeted, the urgent needs in-country are medicine, medical consumables, and food. Where water and power have been cut off by shelling, bottled water is also being called for. Negotiations led to humanitarian corridors for supplies being opened up into areas under Russian ‘control’/bombardment. However, there have been reports of mines being laid across routes and civilians still being targeted as they attempt to flee. Whilst we will be supporting with emergency response, we want to ensure that we support sustaining the eco system of response in the long term as needed. Supporting partners with salaries and core costs will enable them to build their capacity.
They are also distributing funds to partners operating in Ukraine and the surrounding areas including Romania, Moldova, and Poland.
Gambling Industry joins growing list of companies boycotting Russia
The gambling companies are part of a growing list of global operators who are boycotting Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. Businesses have shut shops on high streets, corporate headquarters, distribution centers, and factories have been closed. The major names joining the boycott include McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Disney, Netflix and Spotify, Ikea, and Lego. Fashion brands have also ceased trading in Russia including Burberry, Zara, and Louis Vuitton while Levi, Adidas, and Nike have stopped any shipments to the country.
