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The catastrophic floods in Brisbane, Australia have forced the closure of the Merge Poker Network’s office over the past several days. While it is business as usual at Merge’s numerous poker skins, the corporate headquarters has had to deal with the flooding.
“This one has hit close to home for the industry,” says Payton O’Brien, Senior Editor of the Gambling911.com website. “Our friends at LockPoker.com are on the Merge Network and, as has already been pointed out, it’s business as usual there and with the other rooms operating on Merge.”
Flood-ravaged Brisbane is being compared to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Immediately following Katrina, the online gambling community and poker sector were among the first to respond with calls for aid and generous company donations. Already, Australia’s Tabcorp has donated a million dollars to a Brisbane flood appeals project. Also, the Aussie Legends Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament will kick off this Thursday with a total prize pool of $35,000 will be donated to the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal.
Thousands of people had to flee the outlining sections of Australia’s third largest city.
“This is by far one of our nation’s worst national disasters,” said Greg Tingle, Gambling911.com’s Special Contributor and Australian Correspondent.
More than 15,000 properties in 50 Brisbane suburbs have been impacted by flood waters, which reached their peak of 14.6 feet on January 13. 25 people are known dead and another 12 were still missing.
Damage is estimated to be around $20 billion and rising. Total damage caused by Katrina was $81.2 billion.
- Alistair Prescott, Gambling911.com
