Unless you have been living under a rock or in a medically induced coma for the last 12 months, you would know that 2020 was not the best year. (Horrendous understatement, I know).
Despite the global pandemic, a US presidential election campaign that was interesting to say the least and the wildfires that swept Australia, it was a year that will go into the history books as one of the worst in living memory.
Whilst it has mostly been doom and gloom, we have seen communities coming together, the clap for heroes/carers which saw heartwarming scenes across the UK, neighbours lending a helping hand and breakthroughs in medical science.
This got us thinking about finding the good news that came from the casino gaming industry, an sector that is not always seen for the good they do, so we have looked at the five times casinos gave back to their communities.
This list goes to show that casinos are more than just a place to spend a good night out. And if you can’t get out yet, you could always stay in and try out online casinos at CasinoRange.
Casinos cook up Thanksgiving meals
Millions of people across the USA celebrated a different kind of Thanksgiving in 2020, casinos put their hands in their pockets to offer free Thanksgiving meals.
As the pandemic kept families apart this year and others were struggling financially, casino venues across the country stepped in to keep people fed over the holiday season.
Hard Rock Atlantic City, made up 475 festive bags of food full of turkey and all of the trimmings you would find in a typical Thanksgiving meal. They also delivered 100 frozen turkeys to senior centres in conjunction with Rivers Casino Schenectady and Tioga Downs casinos.
Casino Groups contribute to Covid-19 Fight with Face Masks
Casinos and gaming venues also played their part in aiding the fight against COVID-19. Many donated PPE equipment and other medical supplies to the front lines.
For example, Encore Boston Harbor, gave surgical masks, gloves, sanitiser and other key items to various Boston charities and Wynn Resorts. They also donated thousands of medical gowns, N95 masks and an impressive 46,000 surgical masks to charities and nursing homes.
Rolling Hills Casino’s Help for California fire evacuees
The Rolling Hills Casino in California reportedly gave survivors of the many forest fires that occurred across the state of California in 2018. One of the most destructive wildfires to hit the state in its history, the fire caused the evacuation of nearly 38,000 people across seven counties.
The flames took weeks to be contained and whilst this was going on, the Rolling Hills Casino opened its doors to help the people and their pets. The staff at the casino provided food, beds and common areas for those people and pets who had been displaced.
Australian Bushfire donations by Crown Resorts
It was not just the USA that suffered from the horrific forest fires, as Australia endured one of the worst summers in a very long time. The summer of 2019-20 was commonly known as Black Summer.
There were hundreds of indirect deaths that were linked to the fires, there was widespread destruction of wildlife and over 18 million hectares of burnt land and needed a massive fundraising response.
Controversial billionaire James Packer and his casino company’s philanthropic arm, the Crown Resorts Foundation made one of the biggest donations to the cause.
The overall contribution totalled $5 million and was split $4 million for bushfire relief charities and an earlier pledge of $1 million.
The charities were based in many states in Australia including, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, which had been hit hard by the fires but were also locations of the Crown Resort casinos.
Wynn Resorts’ millions in donations for Disaster Relief
Wynn resorts used the vast amount of resources to help with the two natural disasters that hit in 2017.
There was a typhoon that hit the region of Macau, China and there was also Hurricane Harvey that hit many areas across America including Houston, Texas. These two events happened within a few days of each other and both caused massive amounts of damage and distress to the people that lived there.
Despite these disasters happening over 8000 miles apart, there was one thing both of these places had in common and that was that they were home to Wynn Resorts.
The casino group pledged over 7.5 million dollars to aid the two local communities and help with the rebuilding process.
The money also helped with essential relief for both areas, including the distribution of water, supplies, financial aid and other emergency relief.
Let’s all hope we see this trend continue into 2021, and hopefully, a return to life as we once knew it.
