To ensure that no one was left without a game, BSOP held its first online edition in history, at PokerStars. The event was successful in virtual environment, rewarding more than double the guaranteed and with Brazilians as the main winners.
BSOP management also made a point of stating that the amount does not require any consideration or future obligations, in addition to not being part of any payment or advance.
The donation will be made "to try to alleviate the financial situation of several families who find themselves without income at this moment."
Check the full note:
The year 2020 started very positively for our market. We were starting an extremely promising year. Several tournaments taking place with a large audience, live and online clubs growing at a good pace and several Brazilian players emerging in the main world rankings.
However, the world was taken by surprise with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our market, predominantly composed of events, entertainment, hospitality, air travel, tourism and practice clubs, all dependent on a large simultaneous volume of people, was hit hard. As well as bars, restaurants, nightclubs, music shows, theaters, cinemas and several other segments that depend on the same type of agglomeration, we had to cease our activities completely.
But all this preventive action for public health reasons, which affected companies in our segment so much, also brought disastrous consequences for workers in our market - which is mostly composed of freelance professionals, who occasionally work in different tournaments and clubs to be able to compose their monthly income. And, since there are no more tournaments, the clubs are closed and not even home games can be played, these professionals were left without any income.
When the decision was made to suspend the BSOP São Paulo stage (March 19-25) we had to quickly try to understand the world scenario, what this pandemic situation would mean for people's lives, what such closings and cancellations of events would mean for companies and employees, to try to carefully follow the determinations of municipalities, states and nations around the world and, finally, to try to plan, even with such uncertainty, and prepare the company for the hard months ahead, possibly without events for a good period.
The first measure that was taken publicly reached poker players from all over Brazil. The announcement of the reimbursement of airline tickets and hotels for all players who already had an official link to our event received much praise. However, at the same time, we also contact all people who would work at BSOP and promptly refund all travel costs for our professionals (dealers, floors, boxes, production, etc.).
Now, after a few weeks of intense planning, attempts at projections, negotiations and renegotiations with business partners, suppliers and sponsors, at the moment we are reasonably sure of what we will have to face in the coming months. Therefore, we will take the punctual measure of making a financial donation to all professionals who would work at BSOP São Paulo and who ended up seeing themselves without income.
We will make a deposit of R 500 for each of the more than 140 people who would work at BSOP São Paulo, professionals from the most diverse areas (dealers, floors, boxes, production, massage therapists, among others).
This deposit is not subject to any consideration or future obligations on the part of our employees, nor is it even a kind of advance payment, that is, it has the sole purpose of being a donation ,to try to alleviate a little bit about the financial situation of several families who found themselves without income at this moment.
We will continue to monitor the development of this crisis and reevaluate the scenario at all times, hoping that we will soon (all of us!) be able to return to work, produce, generate jobs and get on with our lives.
Source: GMB / Superpoker
