Finally, the founders of an online gambling company are using some of the vast amounts of wealth obtained through their business to benefit others beside themselves. Slotland, a popular online casino, has launched an initiative that will benefit the children of Africa by promising to donate, to African aid organizations, an amount equal to 10% of all deposits made by new players who register and make a deposit.

Apparently, Bob Geldof’s “Live 8” production, which was designed to raise awareness of the horrendous plight of the African peoples and encourage world leaders to make larger financial donations to help the suffering African nations, has also inspired Slotland’s ‘Help Africa’ campaign. In addition to the ten percent donation offered by the ‘Help Africa’ campaign, Slotland has also offered to automatically reward new customers with a 100% match bonus to their first deposit. Slotland plans to choose the aid organizations that will be receiving the funds in a democratic manner. A poll, to be conducted starting mid-August, will allow Slotland.com players to state which aid organization they prefer. The details will be made available via E-mail to registered players. The ‘Help Africa’ campaign itself is supposed to carry on through August.

The campaign is already starting to pay off too. Slotland.com’s Marketing Manager, Hannah Morante, said that ‘Help Africa’ has already helped boost July deposits tremendously. “Customers understand that a win at Slotland.com is not just about a personal financial reward, but also the pleasure of helping people in need”, said Morante. “They are supporting our campaign to send money to African welfare organizations by choosing to play at Slotland.com rather than at other online slot casinos.”

Even better, Online Gambling Insider, a popular online gambling portal, has also agreed to help the African aid organizations by pledging to donate their entire commission at Slotland for the month of August to 'Help Africa'. Ryan D, co-founder and editor at Online Gambling Insider, explained Online Gambling Insider’s motivation: “ " When we saw the Slotland announcement, there was no doubt in our minds that this was something we had to support. We were very encouraged to see an online casino taking such an important stance. Every little bit helps. The world simply can't do enough. "

‘Save the Children, a charity organization that supported Bob Geldoff’s ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign, stated, in response to the results of the G8 Summit that “the G8’s aid money by 2010 is vital and will help save children’s lives, but the need is far greater and more urgent than the G8 seem prepared to pledge.” Businesses such as Slotland.com and Online Gambling Insider, stand ready to support organizations like ‘Save the Children’. Slotland.com also exhibited charitable conduct after the September 11 th tragedy when the company made significant financial contributions to the Red Cross in the United States.

Gaming revenue has been used for some time now, on a global basis, to help a variety of charities, but online gambling businesses are not doing enough to help out. For example, almost every state lottery in the world donates at least some part of their revenue to social programs in the community. According to Ryan, “the online gambling industry really needs to look at their land-based counterparts and start doing a lot more for charity.”